After EagleRock fell down, BRS rushed across the side street that came across the wine cellar exit. He had seen Phantom peek out of the doorway and instinctively grabbed a flashbang to blind him. Phantom fell back as he tried to clear his eyes. Shots from BRS’ AK47 sounded through the air as Phantom’s vision slowly returned. The shots kept coming closer, meaning his time was running out. The three remaining hostages were waiting behind Phantom, obediently waiting for his move.

Meanwhile, EagleRock reached the end of the long corridor that came from the hostage building only to find the alleyway there empty. He slowly crept along, gun hoisted, ready to peer into the marketplace area, the famous area where most battles in cs_italy took place. He didn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.

All of a sudden, a grenade flew over his head. EagleRock dove to the left, trying to get away from it as much as possible. Thankfully, the grenade had overshot his position and detonated away from him. He struggled to get up and rushed around to a back alley, entering the marketplace from another angle. From there, he saw Newgrundling hiding behind a cart of vegetables, aimed at the other entrance.

Just as Newgrundling saw EagleRock, he turned to shoot. Before he could, EagleRock shot at the vegetable cart, spraying vegetables all over the area, making it hard for either one to see.

Phantom’s vision was returning to him, but BRS was closing in. Phantom gritted his teeth and leaped over the ledge he was on and flew in the air towards BRS. He shot his TMP at BRS, which sprayed towards him, hitting him in the chest and head several times. As Phantom fell to the ground in a painful thud, he stood up and hovered over BRS’s body. As he shot one more bullet into BRS’s head, he said, “Not this time, asshole.” He then heard shots nearby of EagleRock’s AUG and an AK47.

He knew time was running out. Fighting the urge to assist Eagle, he ran as fast as he could towards the hostage rescue point, all three hostages behind. It was only a question of whether or not EagleRock could hold out.

Both Newgrundling and EagleRock were shooting at each other, neither one hitting the mark. The marketplace was strewn with splintered wood and food that covered the whole area. Both of them had exhausted their ammunition and had drawn pistols at that point. EagleRock’s Desert Eagle echoed loudly off of the stone walls and metal rooftops of the nearby homes, hitting all kinds of food, but not Newgrundling. By the time his seven shots were exhausted, Newgrundling had popped up from his cover, Glock in hand.

Just then, the loud foghorn sounded, indicating the match was over. Wade’s voice boomed, “The hostages have been rescued. Counter-Terrorists win!” EagleRock dropped to his knees in relief, dropping his pistol beside him. Newgrundling looked at him and lowered his weapon.

“Even if I wanted to, I can’t.” He then stepped away from the mess they made and walked towards his teleportation pod, back at the hostage building. EagleRock looked at him as he walked by, wondering the implications of his words. He stood up to go back to his teleportation pod, but felt extreme pain. He was bleeding in several places, thanks to several gunshots he sustained. He knew that he’d pretty much be dead if he didn’t have the effects of the adrenaline shot in his body, but it couldn’t help stop the fatigue and pain he was feeling. He knew this was the second time that he avoided death. As he slowly walked back to the pods, he heard Wade’s ceremonial ending of the broadcast:

“Well, that’s about it for today, folks! The Elite Guards put in a good show as they tie up the match count, three to three! Tune in tomorrow for a special match to celebrate Clock Day! Wade Fulp…out!”

“So now he’s fucking Ryan Seacrest,” said Phantom, as Eagle approached. As the two returned to their fellow soldiers, they were greeted by many cheers and hurrahs. EagleRock, however, wasn’t happy.

“Dude,” said Supreme Commander LittleWashu, “you can’t be upset now. We took it to them like we needed to!”

“Yeah, but Viper’s dead.”

“He was brave,” she continued, “and he died for us. At least his death wasn’t in vain, as you got two of them and saved the hostages.”

“He was brave for sure,” said EagleRock. “I think it’s only fair that he gets the recognition he deserves, too. I’m posthumously promoting him to Sergeant, as he did too much for us out there to not be.”

“Agreed,” said Phantom. “He was a great soldier.”

“I’m just getting sick of all these promotions, though. I love promoting people, but not posthumously!”

“Over dinner, then,” said Slash. The twelve soldiers all went to the mess hall and consumed their meals. While the meals themselves were excellent as always, they somehow never satisfied the soldiers. After having their fill, EagleRock started to talk and mentioned his encounter with Newgrundling.

“Okay, look. This is a serious problem at this point. We know they want to kill us, but we need to know why.”

“…Why?” said Slash. “What difference does it make? If they’re trying to kill us, they’re trying to kill us.”

“Agreed,” said Phantom. “Personally, if they’re trying to shoot at me, I don’t contemplate why they were compelled to do so.”

“Still,” said Eagle, “this makes no sense. It’s not like we’re not doing what Wade wants us to do…in fact, we’re the best at holding up the values that he strives for!”

“What if they’re trying to find the best of the best and empower them even more?”

“Then,” said EagleRock, “why kill us all, and why pit us against the moderators?”

“Maybe he’s trying to prune out the weaker of the group. And the moderators…maybe he’s trying to prune them too. You know how bad some of the mods are.”

“Yeah,” said Phantom, “but it’s not just the bad ones getting killed out there. And what’s up with Newgrundling saying he couldn’t kill Eagle if he wanted to?”

“I think the guns don’t work outside the playtime or something,” said Eagle.

“Maybe you’re right,” said Slash, “It might have something to do with this being a test. I can’t see Wade doing this for bad. For all we know, the survivors will be promoted to have all kinds of powers…mod status…ability to save or blam Portal entrants at will…getting stuff through the Portal without judgment!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” said Eagle. “What good would that do for Newgrounds? That’s just way too much power that no one needs.”

“Still,” said Slash. “Don’t you wish you had more power sometimes? Don’t you wish you could control the Portal at will and have people do whatever you want?”

“First off, no,” said Eagle. “That’s power run rampant…it’ll only corrupt you. And you can get that kind of power if you want…it requires hard work and respect from others.”

“Oh, don’t get so pious on me. All the shit you did so far and people shit still gets through the Portal. What the hell do you expect…people to just give up a chance at getting promoted to do the right thing?”

“Ugh,” said Phantom. “We went over this shit already. If we all vote fairly with our enhanced voting power, we’ll overpower those rouge groups. The Portal would stop being corrupt…simply because credit would turn to those voting fairly!”

“Anyway,” said Eagle, “it still doesn’t make sense. All I know is Clock Day is tomorrow, and some of the best soldiers in Newgrounds are not going to be out their protecting the Portal. I just wished I knew why.”

“Whatever,” said Slash. “I’m going to bed.” He and the other soldiers retired to get some sleep before tomorrow’s match.

Chapter 16 – Clock DayOriginally posted on September 10th, 2009 (no, that's not a typo. I had a two-year sabbatical )

EagleRock had went to his quarters after the talk with Slash and Phantom. Thoughts were rushing through his head as he lied down. However, his wounds and fatigue had worn him down, and he was too drained to stay awake. Eventually he slipped into a light, dreamless sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night, a relatively faint noise from across the hall drew EagleRock out of his sleep. It sounded as though the portals across the hall were being activated and people were walking down the hall. He shot up quickly and looked around. He noticed that his wounds had already healed and that there were only remnants of aching from the day’s battle.

He stood up and ran to the door only to find it locked. There was no way to open the door, and certainly nothing to try and pick. Trapped again, he sat crouched in the corner of the room, waiting for something to burst through the door. His senses heightened as adrenaline pumped through his veins. Staring at the door, his vision blurred and his hearing kicked in. Drawing in a breath, he listened to the barely audible action outside.

Outside of the other ruffling about that could be heard, EagleRock heard people whispering and walking down the hall, but it was too low to comprehend what was said. He heard the portals activate again as all noise stopped outside. After trying the door a second time, it was still locked. It wasn't over.

He waited.

EagleRock counted the hours like they were minutes, but he heard nothing. Powerless, all he could do was sit there and be ready when action happened. It wasn't until many hours later that the portals activated outside a second time, and more people were heard bustling down the hall. He heard the people outside quickly return up the hall and go back into the portals. This time there was very little noise, not even whispers. It was only after the portals activated a second time that the doors unlocked.

EagleRock sprang up and creaked open his door to inspect outside. A quick scan showed nothing out of the ordinary, not even a rogue speck of dust. Further examinations of the underground base showed nothing except sleeping Elite Guards in their rooms. It didn't appear as though he had any real chance of figuring out what went on.

His body protesting his every move, he slowly retreated to his room to get some shut-eye. It wouldn't be more than 20 minutes until he was woken up.

-----

TurkeyBean woke up that morning early like he usually did. It was in his nature, as he enjoyed the quiet mornings to contemplate what was in his head. Whatever came out usually was in the form of some kind of art, which is what made him popular on Newgrounds. He often worked for people free of charge and to custom order, simply for the love of doing it. Still art was appreciated on Newgrounds, but there was no money in it.

To pay the bills, he usually found himself protecting the Portal. He would camp out in the shadows hours on end, guarding the Portal, keeping the spam at bay while he kept to himself with his thoughts. He got quite good at it, too; good enough to make it into EagleRock's Barrack. Now that he was involved in this mess, he basically just turned his thoughts to survival. First act of survival: making sure his fellow soldiers were up when they needed to.

As he made his rounds down the row of rooms, he got to EagleRock's quarter, which he knocked on and entered. He found what looked to be a rather unrested and considerably weary Supreme Commander sitting up listlessly.

"Oh, did you need some more time, sir?"

"No thanks, Corporal. It's time to prepare for the next match, anyway."

"As you wish, sir. I'll just let myself out."

"Actually, hold on a second." EagleRock paused. "Did you...did you sleep well last night?"

"Yes, sir. I feel quite rested. Um, is something wrong? Sir?"

"Not at all. Carry on, Corporal."

"Sir." TurkeyBean nodded, backed out of the room, and carried on. Something seemed strange, but he couldn't put his finger on it. However, it retreated to the back of his mind after a minute, to collect with the rest of his thoughts.

-----

By the time the soldiers ate at the mess and congregated in the control room, it was just about time for Wade to announce the match of the day. SlashFirestorm was already at the computers surveying the maps at hand. Phantom and EagleRock approached him.

"Sirs," saluted Slash. "You look like shit, Eagle."

"Nice to see you too," said Eagle. "Are we all accounted for?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" queried Phantom.

"Just checking. I don't trust these people any more than you do. They could easily nick one of us in the middle of the night or something."

"We're all accounted for," Slash replied. "Twelve of us left, just like yesterday. I'm a bit worried about Clock Day, though...think about how unprotected that Portal is right now with all of us down here."

"Not to mention the mods," piped in Sentio, who joined in.

"I'm not particularly worried about the Portal, nor those damn mods," said Phantom. "I want to get out of this alive."

"Well, let's see what Wade has in store for us today," said Eagle. "I'm sure it won't be fun." Sure enough, the crackle of Wade's fanfare started.

Slash squinted his eyes at the sound of this. "Ridiculous. We should be out there protecting the Portal, not playing games while that tripe gets through unscathed."

Wade continued booming through the speaker. "Today, in celebration of Clock Day, we're going to have a little change-up in our CS Battle Royale. Today, the counter-terrorsts will defend de_prodigy against the terrorists in a 2-on-1 skirmish. That's right! Two of your NG moderators against one of your Elite Guard! What a match!"

"Asshole," said Eagle. "He's running out of ways to stack these matches, so why not just pick harder maps and cut our numbers?" He wearily stood up and turned to his Barracks members. "Well, that settles it." He started to walk towards the portals.

"That's quite noble of you, Commander, but this is a match we simply cannot win."

"I've been told that many times. And I don't want to see you going in there. I'll stop you myself if I have to."

EagleRock stood there for a second before letting out a long sigh. "Fine. Your sniper rifle will probably be best on this map, anyway. It'll keep you alive the longest."

"Ok, what do I do?"

"All right. This map is hard to defend. Very hard. It's a large map with two bombsites that are not close to each other. They will probably go for Bombsite B in the center of the map. It's in a building that's full of twisting and winding hallways. It's suicide for a sniper. Your best bet is to camp Bombsite A at spawn, as you'll have two long hallways you can snipe from. The rest of the map is basically a square around that center bombsite."

Coop nodded. "I got this. I'll see you on the other side."

Coop opened his locked, which contained the AWP and a Desert Eagle. Quite happy with his choice of weaponry, he suited up and got ready. He then squared in front of his open portal, waved to his fellow soldiers, and entered.

Sentio was standing next to EagleRock, and heard him muttering a prayer under his breath.

Coop83 found himself in outside a small control room that comprised Bombsite A. He had a clear view of two hallways that lead to two sides of the map. He also saw a ladder and a ledge behind him that lead up to some ductwork above. "Perfect," he thought, as he prepared his sniper rifle.

Once Wade boomed "Commence!" in the mic, Coop immediately climbed up the ladder to the ledge. He got strong footing and had a clear shot from either hallway. In case of a bad skirmish, he would be able to escape up the ladder and into the duct. He raised his weapon and was at the ready. Now it was time to wait.

Slash looked at the overhead view map and saw Coop camp up near the duct. "Is that wise to do? He could just be a sitting duck."

"Not if he's fast with a sniper," said Phantom.

"Exactly," said Eagle. We're talking about a skilled sniper here. Also, instinct on this map tends to let you forget about the duct and only look down on the ground. The worst things that can happen to Coop are a flashbang, where he can just run up to the duct, or if they plant at B. Either way, he's protected from enemy fire."

"Good point," said Slash.

All of a sudden, Wade came back on mic. "For those of you that are keeping track of Clock Day, I'll be calling out when we reach new milestones of protected Flash so you won't be missing out on the festivities! We're currently over 1100 Flash that have passed judgment!"

Slash gritted his teeth. "Now he's taunting us. How I wish I was out there right now. I feel powerless down here. It's fucking killing me!"

"Steady yourself," said Phantom. "There will be plenty to judge in the future. We need to worry about getting out of this mess."

Wade chimed in. "1200 Flash!"

Slash slammed his hand down on the desk. "I know, but it's just not FAIR! What the hell did we do wrong? Since when did we deserve to be punished like this?"

"QUIET, both of you!" EagleRock stopped the argument quickly. "I need to concentrate. We're going to have action soon.

Coop was still in the same spot, listening to Wade counting up the Flash that passed judgment today. So far, the map's been quiet. No bomb planted, no sign of a mod.

Just then, he saw SevenSeize run across right hallway. Coop tried to train his rifle on him, but was too slow. Seven ran into the hallway and up the stairs to Bombsite B and tossed a flashbang behind him, blinding Coop. Coop instinctively climbed up the ladder and braced himself inside the vent.

"We're at 1300 Flash! Oh yeah, and the bomb has been planted!"

Slash had shut up back at the base, but was still audibly seething after each of Wade's announcements. The last one sparked concern. He finally spoke up.

"Shouldn't he be rushing in there? He can stop the bomb from detonating!"

X-Naut replied, "Slash, you need to realize he's outnumbered, and he has a sniper rifle. What could he do running in there like that? He's best off staying behind and trying to pick them off. At least if we lose the round, he'll save his life."

"Seems like cowardice to me," said Slash. "If I was in there, I'd be pushing and advancing as fast as I could."

"Well then," said BlueHippo, "Next time it's you out there with your life on the line, you'll have that very opportunity."

-----

BlueHippo was one of those Supreme Commanders that was an enigma. He usually stayed away from the Barracks on other business. He was a prime candidate for moderatorship, and definitely respected all around Newgrounds. His Flash and his actions were often suspect and could even be considered spam-like, but his actions showed his good intent. If you look at his track record in the field. he shows himself to be a very strong team player. Like EagleRock, and many other of the commanders in his Barrack, he was one to value a human life above all else.

-----

Coop had decided to work his way down the vent, turning left at a fork, which was taking him over the active bomb site. As he neared the end of he duct, he trained his rifle down the way, checking for any signs of life.

SevenSeize was there. He hopped up to take a look down the vent, only to be met by a point blank shot in the head by an AWP. The sound of the rifle echoed across the entire map and alerted BigBadRon, who was camping the other side of the room. He immediately spun around and started shooting his Para in the direction of the vent, only to be met by a flashbang from Coop.

Coop dropped his AWP as he jumped down from the vent, unsheathing his Desert Eagle. Ducking to the left, he planted two well-aimed bullets in BigBadRon's head, silencing the belt-fed in the process.

The soldiers back in the control room cheered as they saw Coop take down both mods.

"That's the way you do it!" proclaimed Phantom, slapping Eagle hard on the back.

Eagle smiled as he hunched over in his chair in relief. It wasn't until he looked back up at the bombsite that he let out an audible scream that pieced the cheers from behind him.

"What's wrong?" said Sentio. "The two mods are down and he's at the bombsite! He should be fine!"

EagleRock knew better.

Back at the bombsite, Coop picked himself up from off the ground, dropped his Deagle, and ran over to the bomb. With precious seconds left on the timer, he had plenty of time to defuse. As he kneeled down over the bomb and reached behind his back to get a pair of pliers, his heart sank into his stomach.

He forgot his defusal kit.

Coop immediately panicked as he tried to figure out what to do. He tried franticly to cut the wire that would stop the bomb, but it resisted. His hands got clammy and started shaking to where he was unable to work with the bomb at all. Knowing it was too late, he scrambled up off the ground and ran. He had no clue which way was he was going, as the building he was in was just like a maze, as EagleRock said. He kept dashing left and right, going up stairs, jumping down off ramps, and running as fast as he could for as long as he could. As he crossed over a bridge, he saw the stairway that SevenSeize took to get into the building. He knew if he made it out into the hallway, he'd be shielded by enough walls to protect him. He started to jump down from the bridge down to the stairs.

That's when the bomb detonated.

Wade then proclaimed the match over. "The bomb has been detonated! Terrorists win! That puts your moderators in the lead over your Elite Guard, 4 matches to 3. Make sure to tune in tomorrow for the next exciting match! In the meantime, enjoy the rest of Clock Day, which is now up to 1500 passed Flash! This is Wade, signing off!"

The bomb blast hit Coop83 just as he was jumping off the bridge overseeing the walkway to safety below. The blast was strong enough to throw him 20 feet down the hall, where he landed roughly against a spool of wire. Debris from inside the bombed building flew out, some of it hitting him as it flew by. He was very badly injured, but alive.

Luckily, he wasn't far from his portal, as he was barely able to limp back. Even though the adrenaline shot was keeping him alive and relatively pain-free, he was still feeling pretty rough. With a broken leg, at least two broken ribs, and a lot of internal and external bleeding, he knew he was only conscious by virtue of that shot.

As he was transported back to the base, he was greeted by his fellow Elite Guards. Cheers of happiness filled the hall that he was alive. He had difficulty understanding why, as the moderators now lead in matches. He, simple put, had failed. His fellow members carried him over to a sofa where he was let down to relax and keep from moving. EagleRock and Phantom soon came over and sat down near him.

"I...*cough*...I'm sorry...I failed...sirs." he choked to the two of them.

"Sorry?" said Eagle. "Sorry for what?"

"For losing the match."

"Yeah, so?" EagleRock persisted. "I'd rather lose a match than lose a soldier."

"Really," said Phantom. "That was one of the best matches we had yet!"

"But I failed!" Coop persisted.

"Yeah, you took down two of those bastards in one fell swoop," replied Phantom. "By our last count, that leave 12 Elite Guards to fight 11 Mods."

"Yes...yessir." Coop struggled to stand himself up, his injuries giving him protest.

"Good. Now, I want you to retire to your room until it's time for mess. You need your rest...Supreme Commander."

Coop looked up, surprised. "You're promoting me?"

"Damn straight. I don't see many other soldiers around here that could've done what you did. You took out some of their best soldiers in one fell swoop, despite the absolute worst of odds."

"He's right," said Sentio. "Maybe we can see you around the Barracks a bit more often too. It'd be nice to have a role model around for the new recruits."

Coop just stopped and smiled. "Come on," said Phantom, "Let's get this guy to bed."

-----

After a nice celebratory dinner in the mess hall, most of the soldiers retreated to the lounge by the control room. Eagle, Slash, Phantom, and Sentio congregated in Eagle's room, and sat around the small round table inside.

"I called you three in here," started Eagle, "because I need to speak to you in confidence."

"We're listening," said Phantom.

"I was woken up last night to some kind of shuffling around outside my door in the hallway, and I heard the portals go off."

Slash fidgeted. "Who was it?"

"I don't know. My door was locked...I couldn't get out."

"Locked?" said Phantom. "When was this?"

"Not long after we all went to sleep. The door was locked for almost the whole night though. It wasn't till I heard more commotion that it finally unlocked."

"Did you see anything?" asked Sentio.

"No. The door was locked all night. When they finally unlocked, I took a trip around the base to check for anything out of the ordinary, and nothing. Everyone was asleep, and nothing seemed out of line. Not even a speck of dust."

"Well, that explains why you asked for a roll call," said Slash.

"It also explains why you look like shit," said Phantom.

"That still begs the question," said Sentio, "as to what happened."

"I'm at a loss too," commented Phantom.

"I had my own theories," continued Eagle, "I also wanted to hear yours."

"Well," said Slash, "doesn't sound like us three have any ideas, so let's go with yours."

"Okay, here goes. But let me ask you all a question." Eagle looked down for a split second and fidgeted his right foot. "Do you guys...trust everyone down here?"

"You mean our own soldiers?" Sentio looked a bit wide-eyed, as the thought never came across him. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well," replied Eagle, "from what I could hear, though it was admittedly very muffled and quiet, it sounded like someone was being retrieved. The fact that they came back several hours later and did the same thing supports this."

"Hmm," said Slash. He shifted his weight onto one side and supported himself with his arm. "That does sound like a theory. How'd you come up with it?"

"I had a good six hours to sit thinking as I was waiting with those doors locked."

"Jesus, why were you up all that time?" Phantom curled his forehead. "No wonder you are so fucking exhausted."

"Well, what would you do? Here I was trapped, hearing God knows what outside, no fucking clue what was going on. Am I really just going to say 'oh gee, time to go back to bed' and wait to be slaughtered?"

"True," said Slash. "Of course, it doesn't help having you run so ragged. You're taking this a bit too hard on yourself."

"Yeah," said Eagle, staring at his feet again, "well, it's tough. I wish I could get us out of here, but who knows what we can do."

Phantom looked at him and stroked the stubble of a beard he had forming. "So what do you think we should do?"

"Well," replied Eagle, "that's why I asked you all if you had concerns about anyone. I mean, for all we know, someone could've come and poisoned us, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Only other thing I can think of is looking for strange behavior from our own troops."

Slash kept on fidgeting in his chair, making it squeak. Eagle turned at him again. "What, Slash? You obviously have something on your mind, otherwise you wouldn't be so nervous."

"Yeah," said Phantom. "Spit it out before the chair creaking drives me insane."

Slash's heart started beating harder. He stared back at Eagle. "Well, sir, the only one I can think of that's acting weird...sir...is you."

Eagle squared his shoulders and popped his head up a few inches. This certainly came as a shock to him. He knew there were soldiers that had doubted him since they were trapped down in this hell hole, but he didn't expect his own high officers to start doing so as well. Not by now. He shut his eyes for a second and let out a deep sigh. "So now it comes out."

"It's true," said Phantom. "Many have said it down here. You have not been yourself."

"Care to explain this, you two? I'd love to know what my most trusted soldiers think of me."

Slash stared at Eagle again. "Look, it's not that you'd do bad or anything, but, well, some of your decisions, showed, well, being unfit for office."

Phantom jumped in. "Now wait, I think that's a bit drastic, Slash. I don't think anyone's calling him unfit. He sure as hell knows what to do better than anyone else down here. However, Eagle, you have been quite shaken by this. Especially today. Your fatigue has gotten people worried that you won't be able to pull us through."

EagleRock got up from his chair and sat down on his bed. He rested his back against the metal wall it was next to and looked up at the fluorescent light embedded in the ceiling. "I hate having to prove myself all the time. I'm tired. I was up all fucking night expecting for someone to come around and kill me. I've been running my ass ragged because I just don't like people dying in these matchbox skirmishes we're subjected to. I'd rather die first than have my soldiers fall in front of me. And, for the record, we've fought them against insurmountable odds, and yet we've still killed more of them than they have of us."

EagleRock looked back at the table at his officers. "I can't keep doing this, not without knowing if the people I look to the most are behind me. Stop beating around the bush and tell me once and for all if you trust me or not." He paused for an answer. "Sentio, you've quiet. Let's hear what you think."

Sentio gulped. He had no reason to doubt EagleRock. He knew Eagle would never lead him wrong, not matter what happened. "I trust you, sir."

Phantom replied next. "All I said was that you're letting this too much into your head. You need to look after yourself more and keep in good health. I think you know where my alliances lie."

Slash looked at Phantom then back at Eagle. "God knows you still seem to have all the answers, no matter what happens. I just hope we get out of this mess before our luck runs out."

EagleRock sighed. "Fine. We'll leave it at that. But, if you don't mind, gentlemen, I need to try to get some rest. Phantom's right." He lied down on his bed and the three officers filed out.

Sentio headed back down towards the lounge while Phantom and Slash went towards their rooms. As Slash reached his door, he wordlessly motioned for Phantom to follow him into his room. Phantom followed in.

Slash started Phantom in the face. "Look, you know why we need to talk."

Phantom just gave him a pursed expression. "Tell me why we need to talk."

"You and I have been around here long enough to know that we have problems on our hands."

"Well well, master of the fucking obvious. It took 14 deaths for you to figure that out?"

"You know what I mean. Don't play dumb with me. We can't just...blindly trust anymore."

"Okay, fine. It's a concern. But what of it?"

"I think we need to consider our alternatives."

"What alternatives? Go out next match, lay down our weapons, and pray they don't kill us?"

"No, but maybe that's the way we should start thinking."

Phantom pushed Slash out of his way as he paced the room. "So you think that Wade is more trustworthy than EagleRock all of a sudden?"

"I wouldn't call Wade trustworthy."

"Then what exactly are you saying we do, Slash? Stop playing ring around the rosy and tell me what the fuck you want to do."

"All I'm saying is that EagleRock's 'big plan' is basically play along with their little slaughter game and wait. I," Slash paused again with his words, "I want to be a bit more proactive."

"You know very fucking well what the plan is. We can't do shit till we get back to Dust and get to that door."

"We've already gambled FOURTEEN lives on the off-chance that we get to go back there. I'm simply not willing to gamble any more."

"That's why it's not your decision to gamble it." Slash stopped at those words. Phantom was pulling rank on him. He bit his lip as Phantom continued. "Look, Slash, you're upset just like the rest of us. But no matter what, I think it's clear no one is affected more by a loss of a soldier than EagleRock. No matter how unnerved he could get, you won't see him blindly gamble away lives."

Slash squared up his shoulders defiantly. "That seems to be the case, though."

"Look. I'm cutting right to the point, because I don't have time for this crap. If what you're saying to me is that we are gambling a bit too much on a whim of EagleRock's, you've got a point. But let's face it...you're talking about an all out mutiny." He hardened his stare at Slash. "Unless you're ready to accept the consequences of your actions, I suggest you get these ideas out of your head."

Phantom spun around and let himself out of Slash's room. He shut the door behind him. Slash stood there, looking at the closed door, heart pumping in the silence.

-----

The next morning, PossiblePancakes woke up to find the Barracks members in much better spirits than yesterday. After seeing Coop's strong showing in the last match, it surely helped pick up morale. Same as ever, Coop's wounds had healed overnight and he was good as new, albeit a bit tired from the ordeal. EagleRock looked better too, like he got some well needed rest. Pancakes wondered when it was time for him to go out and fight. He didn't like the idea of dying, but he sure as hell didn't like the idea of being shunned because of his past. If he was going to be here, he should have the right to defend the Barracks like anyone else, whether or not it meant death.

"Morning, sir," said Pancakes to EagleRock.

"Morning Sergeant," replied Eagle. "What's the good word?"

"Nothing, sir. Just wishing you good luck."

"Thanks, Sergeant. We'll see what gets thrown at us today."

Phantom walked over to Eagle. "So, any ideas?"

"None yet. Wade's doing a good job at keeping us in the dark until the last possible second. Let's only hope our next map is Dust."

Phantom stared at Eagle through the corner of his eye until the usual daily crackle of the speakers started. Wade came on to call up the daily match, cheery as ever. "Gooooooood Moooooorning Newgrounds! It's that time again! Time to see your Elite Guard and your Newgrounds Moderators go head-to-head in the Newgrounds CS Battle Royale! Today, we'll be seeing a neat little 4-on-4 matchup taking place in de_cbble!"

Like clockwork, EagleRock sprung into action. "Finally, a fair fight! Cobble is relatively easy to defend, since the bombsites are close to each other. Despite how large the map is, this should be easy with four of us out there. The problem with this map, though, is it's easy to get lost. Also, for us to defend this map properly, we'll need to split up. Is there anyone here that has played Counter-Strike and knows this map?"

The Barracks members all looked at each other, waiting for someone to raise their hand. Finally, PossiblePancakes rose his. "I do, sir. I know this map like the back of my hand. You can count on me."

"Thank God. If this works, you'll see a Sergeant badge in your future. How do you usually play this map?"

"I camp, sir. At least that's how to do it."

Phantom walked over to Eagle and talked low in his ear, "You think this is wise, sir? We're talking about the one that betrayed us in the past."

Eagle made no effort to muffle his voice. "He'll be just perfect, Phantom. I'll need another camper to stick with Pancakes."

TurkeyBean rose his hand. "That's me, sir."

"Excellent. You two are going to defend the bombsites while I'm going to be running around the map picking people off. I'll need someone skilled with grenades to stay with me and stave off the sticky areas."

SlashFirestorm protested. "Wait!! You sure you want to do this, Washu? You might get killed out there."

Washu nodded. "I trust EagleRock, and I trust my own skills. We'll be fine out there."

"Perfect then," commented Eagle. "Let's suit up and bring it to them."

Washu walked past the agape Slash as she went to prepare for the battle. He was speechless.

-----

While SlashFirestorm had a large past with EagleRock, he also seemed to have just as large of a past with LittleWashu. She was a love interest of his for a long time, and it ate away at him incessantly. Slash has propositioned her countless times, which were all, for the most part, ignored. Slash and Washu had been good friends for a while, and eventually became to be fellow officers in EagleRock's Barrack.

Washu was a very independent person, strong in her abilities and very focused on fulfilling her dreams. While most people in the Elite Guard had the ultimate goal of Supreme Commander in mind, her heart was set on gaining the coveted Deity Whistle award, which was given out to only those that most effectively handled the malicious entrants on the Portal and the slanderous reviewers that were out there. In fact, her focus was rarely on protecting the Portal the conventional way (with blam rifle in hand), but rather using covert methods such as whistleblowing. Her method of fighting via subterfuge fit well in hand with projectile weaponry, which made her a skilled grenadier.

-----

SlashFirestorm looked on at all four soldiers as they suited up and readied for battle. EagleRock was sporting his usual AUG and Deagle, PossiblePancakes retrieved a FAMAS and a USP, TurkeyBean shouldered an XM1014 12-gauge auto-shotgun, while LittleWashu pulled out an MP5 Navy, a FiveseveN sidearm, and, of course, her selection of grenades.

EagleRock commented, "Please folks, don't forget your defusal kits...this IS a bomb defusal map." PossiblePancakes turned red as he grabbed his kit out of his locker and strapped it to his belt. "Okay, everyone at the ready."

Slash observed the team walk over to their portals and step in together. With a flash of light, they were gone, off to the map. Slash's thoughts turned to LittleWashu yet again, as he clenched his fists. By the time Wade had yelled "Commence," his knuckles were ghostly white.

Once the arrived at Cobble, EagleRock and the other three got situated as they were waiting for the match to start. EagleRock gave his usual last-second commands. "Pancakes, you're going to camp the bombsites for me. You stay here with TurkeyBean and defend Bombsite A. Washu and I are going to rush Bombsite B and head up the side hall there. Assuming we meet no resistance over there, we'll reach the junction between the center courtyard and the back route to their spawn site. From there, she and I can easily catch a stalled B rush or come up behind them as they push for A."

"Sounds good, sir. You got it." Pancakes readied his rifle.

At that time, Wade yelled, "Commence!"

The plan immediately took action. EagleRock and Washu stole away into the short hallway that lead to Bombsite B, while Pancakes took to hiding behind a box at the bombsite itself. TurkeyBean ran to the other side of the large room that contained Bombsite A, in between the far left hallway and the center ramp. From here, he'd be able to pick off people rushing in from behind.

Eagle was whispering commands to Washu as they ran. "Okay, we're going to need a flashbang in the doorway up at the top of the stairs when we enter the room. If they're rushing this way, they'll be there already."

"Roger that," replied Washu in her mic. Washu carried herself as fast as possible, keeping a close to EagleRock as possible. It was only a few more seconds later that she saw the huge room that contained Bombsite B. As they cleared the hallway, she saw the bombsite a sniping distance away to the back right, and the stairs to her left. Heading up to the doorway was a staircase on the far side, with a grassy knoll closer to their side of the room. EagleRock was already climbing up the knoll. She quickly gave pursuit, readying a flashbang in her hand.

"Now!" EagleRock whispered the order. She pulled the pin and lobbed a flashbang up the knoll. It carefully ricocheted against the back wall and cut left behind two large boxes that hid the doorway. The large burst of noise and flash of white went off exactly where planned. "GO! Smoke at the doorway!" Washu complied, readying her smoke grenade. EagleRock pushed off of the edge of the grass and cut left hard, steadying his AUG. Immediately, a return flashbang came, blinding EagleRock.

Back at Bombsite A, Pancakes had his FAMAS' sights trained on the doorway that was to the left, waiting for action. He could hear the conversation between Washu and EagleRock through the radio, but heard Eagle suddenly scream "SHIT!" and heard returning gunfire. As the radio transmission cut out, he gritted teeth as he doubled his focus. He whispered back in the radio.

"EagleRock, do you copy? Do you copy, sir? Sir, do you copy? Washu, sir? Either of you?"

TurkeyBean whispered back in the radio, "Either they're in a firefight, or they're dead."

Pancakes needed to take decisive action. If EagleRock and Washu were dead, they might very well be moving to Bombsite B. His experience on this map told him that heading to that bombsite from where he would put him out in the open on a long drag with virtually no cover. It was not where he wanted to be. "Okay, move out, TurkeyBean. We need to come up behind the moderators. Follow me." He started running towards the large ramp, TurkeyBean standing up to follow.

EagleRock had exhausted his magazine staving off the moderators as long as he could. As he was inside the doorway, he only caught a quick glimpses of JohnnyUtah firing his AK47 and mightypotato firing an MP5. He stumbled back, taking a grazing hit to his arm, as he fell back behind the crate to his left. LittleWashu's smoke grenade was well placed, and was quickly filling up the area with smoke, buying the two counter-terrorists some time. EagleRock stood up from the ground and started reloading his AUG. "Toss a frag grenade in. We'll rush them right after."

LittleWashu did just that. Her frag grenade hit true, audibly hurting multiple people in the smoke-filled room. EagleRock and Washu rushed inside the room. As their vision was obstructed by the smoke cover, they started squeezing off rounds into the room. Once they passed through the smoke cloud, they both saw they had already hit mightypotato, who was pinned up against the corner of the room. He didn't last long at point-blank range against Eagle's AUG and Washu's MP5. As they both turned to look into the hallway to the right, EagleRock quickly scanned around for JohnnyUtah. He was too late, however, as Johnny already trained his AK on LittleWashu's head and squeezed out two rounds. EagleRock was able to retaliate against JohnnyUtah with a headshot of his one, it was not in time to save LittleWashu.

"NO!!!!!!!!!"SlashFirestorm went wide-eyed and took a good seven steps back from the shock of seeing LittleWashu get shot on the computer screen. He was stricken with rage and fear as he went into an uncontrollable fit. The other members sitting around all stirred and tried to control Slash to no avail. He was kicking and punching anything he could find. Most people were afraid to even approach him.

Phantom wasn't one of them. He stormed angrily towards the rioting Slash and quickly grabbed his shirt from behind. He spun him around and punched him hard in the face. Slash put his hands up to defend, but Phantom then grabbed his shoulders and kneed him in the stomach. Slash was taken aback from this blow and stumbled back into a chair in the lounge. He topped back over the arm of the chair and clumsily fell on the ground behind it, Phantom coming up on him in fast chase.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH! I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE YOU! CALM YOURSELF DOWN RIGHT NOW!"

At Phantom's booming words, Slash's blood rose to a boil as he sat his upper torso up, leaning on his elbows. "SHE'S FUCKING DEAD!!! HOW CAN HE LET HER DIE! HOW CAN HE--" Phantom knelt down and grabbed Slash by the collar with his left hand, and slapped him hard across the face with his right about four of five times.

"SNAP OUT OF IT, GOD DAMMIT!" He then grabbed Slash's collar with his other hand and pulled his face an inch from his own. Phantom growled at Slash through is gritted teeth. "Now you listen to me. People...are...DYING! I am NOT going to have you get MORE of us killed because you can't fucking control yourself!"

"You don't understand--"

"You have the fucking GALL to say EagleRock can't hold his composure as you go and pull a stunt like THIS?"

"But he let her die! Don't you see--"

"You should have NO MORE fucking concern about her than you do about anyone else around here, you understand me? Your fucking personal life does NOT take precedence over your command. You swore an oath here and BY MY FUCKING GOD YOU WILL UPHOLD IT!"

Phantom released his ironclad grip he had on Slash's collar by throwing him down into the ground hard. He stood up, towering over Slash, who was coughing from the blow. "Get to your quarters, now. You can consider yourself relieved of your command until you can come back out here. And when you do, you sure as fuck better apologize to these soldiers for what you did, TAKE CONTROL OF YOURSELF, AND ACT LIKE THE FUCKING SUPREME COMMANDER YOU ARE!!!!

Phantom, at the height of his rage, violently kicked the chair next to Slash. The wood in the chair splinted as Phantom spun around stormed towards the Barracks members watching him. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!!!" he boomed as he pressed towards the computers. Everyone darted away from Phantom as he slammed into his chair and put his head in his hands, trying to regain his own composure.

Slash got up and stared at Phantom sitting at the desk. The adrenaline was still pumping through is veins, violently throbbing his head with every heartbeat. He bit is lip and walked off towards his dorm, slamming the door behind him.

Meanwhile, back at the map, Pancakes and TurkeyBean reached the top of the large ramp that sloped down and back up to the central courtyard of the map. EagleRock came in though the radio, "Pancakes, come in!"

"I'm here, sir! Are you all right?"

"They got Washu. I got two of them, though. How's the bombsite?"

"No one there. We heard gunfire and got no response from you, so started to give chase."

"Shit. They must have went towards Bombsite A through the side hall. Get back there, now!"

"Yes sir!" Pancakes motioned to TurkeyBean to follow him back down the ramp, but a shot from an AK47 pierced TurkeyBean's skull and downed him. Pancakes barely got a glimpse of Newgrundling as he rushed behind a box to the left of the ramp, outside the hallway doorway.

The walls still echoed with Wade's announcement. EagleRock wasted no time radioing back to PossiblePancakes. "Pancakes, they're at A...get down there now!"

"But I'm pinned!" Newgrundling still had his AK trained on the box PossiblePancakes was hiding behind.

"There's no time. Get a move-on!"

Pancakes took a deep breath and scrambled across the gap between his box and the doorway. Newgrundling wasted no time squeezing off a few rounds, a couple of which hit Pancakes in the leg. He tripped and fell, dropping down just before the doorway. Newgrunding squinted his eyes as he gathered his aim for the next shot.

Just then, EagleRock tossed a flashbang out from behind. The grenade lobbed over Newgrundling's head and illuminated the entire courtyard. Pancakes scrambled up and dashed over into the side hallway, eyes blinded by the flashbang. He ducked in the corner regaining his composure.

EagleRock fired his AUG, but didn't manage to get hit on Newgrundling. Instead, the terrorist spun around and blind fired, hitting Eagle once in the chest. He fell back, ducking back around the corner, losing his flashbang advantage. As Newgrundling was shaking off the effects of the flashbang, Eagle dropped his empty AUG and pulled out his Desert Eagle. He then jumped out from the corner, taking shots at Newgrundling. As the deafening "blam, blam blam" of the Deagle filled the room, Newgrundling fired the remaining ammo out of his AK47, missing every bullet. As it turned out, every one of Eagle's shots missed as well. He then landed on the ground, in open view, right at the feet of the gloating terrorist. Newgrundling laughed as he tossed his exhausted AK47 to the ground and pulled out his Glock. "Man, you just suck at these confrontations, don't you," muttered Newgrundling as he took aim with his Glock.

EagleRock's teeth gritted as he pointed his Deagle back at Newgrundling. "Not quite." He squeezed the trigger to fire his last round into Newgrundling's head.

Meanwhile, PossiblePancakes was running back towards Bombsite A through the twisting hallways that would dump him out the side of the area. As he reached the exit, he crept out slowly, scanning the area for the delivery boy. With no one in plain sight, he slowly crept up behind a box and lobbed a flashbang into the center of the area. He then ran breakneck speed towards the bombsite, gun drawn, looking for the bomb and the perpetrator. He checked the crevices of the area and saw no one or nothing around. The bomb wasn't here."Eagle, Eagle, the bomb's at B. HURRY!"

EagleRock was still on the ground from that last skirmish. He bolted up, sheathing his Desert Eagle, and grabbing his AUG. Reloading on the run, rushed up to the exit, that spit back out onto Bombsite B. He could hear the bomb ticking violently in the background. There wasn't much time. Out of flashbangs, he ducked around and checked the area with his scope. The terrorist was ensconced behind the boxes down into the area. Going down there was a suicide run, but he knew what he had to do.

Jumping over the ledge, he slid down the grassy knoll and trained his sight down the long causeway to where the bomb was ticking away. Sure enough, Proteas was there, firing his P90 at EagleRock. The P90's inaccuracy lent to EagleRock's advantage, as he was at mid-range with an accurate rifle. What didn't lean to his advantage was the fact that he was on unbalanced ground and not settled into his shots. Eagle squeezed the trigger of his AUG, hoping to force Proteas to duck back to no avail. He started running up towards Proteas in a zig-zag, again, exhausting his clip in the process. Eagle threw his AUG away and unsheathed his Desert Eagle a second time. He trained his barrel on Proteas' head, and squeezed the trigger.

The Desert Eagle clicked in protest, as Eagle forgot to reload. He stopped in his tracks as he stared down Proteas' gun barrel, hearing the fast ticking of the bomb behind him. Next all that could be heard was a deafening gunshot.

This gunshot wasn't from a submachine gun, however. It was from a rifle. Sure enough, PossiblePancakes was crouched at the end of the hallway leading from Bombsite A. He managed to headshot Proteas from sniper rifle range, downing the final terrorist on the map. EagleRock was in shock for a split-second until he realized what happened. Once his brain cleared, he heard the beeping from the bomb, indicating it only had a few seconds left before it went off.

Screaming "RUN!!" to Pancakes, he dove on the bomb reaching behind him to grab a pair of pliers from his defusal kit. Pancakes froze where he was, unsure what to do. Should he just abandon EagleRock and run to his own safety, or should he try to save him? Thoughts flew through his mind. As he realized he was a good 15-second sprint away from the bomb, he knew any attempts to help EagleRock would be in vain. Instead, he dropped his rifle and sprinted back in the hall, up the ramp to Bombsite A. There wasn't much time left before he'd either live or die...

"Bomb has been defused. Counter-Terrorists win! That ties up the matches between the mods and the Elite Guard, 4 to 4! Be sure to check out tomorrow's match between these two formidable forces! Until next time, this is Wade, signing off!"

A feeling of relief enveloped PossiblePancakes' body, as he jogged back down to Bombsite B to collect EagleRock. He found him laying prone, face down, clutching the now dormant bomb. Pancakes bent down and offered a hand to Eagle and helped him off the ground. As EagleRock adjusted his helmet back, he said in a pant, "If we get out of this alive, remind me to buy you something nice."

Pancakes just smiled and pat EagleRock on his back. "Come on, sir, let's go. I'm sure everyone will be glad to see us." Pancakes helped EagleRock back to the portals at Bombsite A, as he seemed quite a bit shaken up and obviously was taxing his nerves. Mental fatigue was blatantly set into the Supreme Commander, as he managed to get into close-call after close-call.

By the time the two Elite Guards returned to the underground base, they were surprised to find a lack of celebration or even support of the last match. As a matter of fact, all the faces EagleRock came to see were quite somber. He turned to see the control room in shambles, with an obviously distraught Phantom sitting at the desk, head down.

EagleRock turned to Andrea364. "What the hell happened here?"

She stared back and said, "There was a big fight before...between Supreme Commanders Phantom and Slash."

EagleRock closed his eyes. "This is just what I need. Sentio!" Sentio came over to EagleRock.

"Sir," he replied. "I guess you want some information, huh?"

EagleRock suddenly appeared very stoic and regimented. He displayed a complete lack of emotion, as he started barking orders around the room. "I expect a full debriefing on this, Supreme Commander. Report to my room in 5 minutes where you will provide it to me in detail."

"Yes...yessir." Sentio saluted as he rushed off to the rooms.

"Supreme Commander Coop83," barked EagleRock. He came up and provided a smart salute. "With the exception of the high officers, all Barracks members are to report to the mess immediately. I'll leave you the responsibility of ensuring all members gather there until my Relations Officer is free to address their concerns."

"...EagleRock?" PossiblePancakes was shocked by his immediate reversal in leadership style. EagleRock was in the habit of leading in a very laissez-faire fashion, not getting tied up in protocols or excessive bureaucracy. As a result, his Barracks, while very casual, was a very efficient outpost with very tidy operations.

"That's Chief Barracks Officer to you, Corporal." He turned towards Pancakes with a very serious look on his face.

"Y...y...yes, sir. Sorry, sir! I'll report to the mess immediately!" PossiblePancakes saluted quickly and started to follow Coop83 and Andrea364 down the far hallway to the mess.

"Something's gotten into him, Pancakes," whispered Andrea, as they walked.

"I know," he replied. "For EagleRock to start acting like this, we've got some trouble on our hands." He sighed as they walked down the hall.

The room quickly filed out, leaving EagleRock and Phantom alone in the war-torn control room and lounge. EagleRock walked over to Phantom, who was still head-down in front of the computers. "Had one of our temper-tantrums, did we?"

Phantom grumbled with no cohesive response.

"Head up, soldier. I don't have all day."

Phantom lifted his head up, bloodshot eyes staring back at EagleRock. "What do you want?"

"I want you to keep your composure and not act like a fucking lunatic. I don't need my Barracks members running scared because you just HAD to have your hissy-fit."

"Oh please. And what's with the barking of orders all of a sudden?"

"Barking of orders? I'll tell you what it's about. It's about my own fucking high officers doubting my abilities. You can't exactly hide it, you know. And don't insult my intelligence by telling me this argument was about something completely different."

Phantom stood up, stared EagleRock in the face, and squinted his eyes. "You have absolutely no clue what you are talking about."

"Correct me, then," EagleRock said, unscathed.

"Look, Slash went crazy when LittleWashu died, all right? I had to stop him. Got me riled up too, okay?"

EagleRock looked to the side and put a smirked. "Well, then, I'll have that squared away in my debriefing."

"Oh, now you don't trust me? ME?"

Eagle looked back at Phantom. "Wow, look who's all upset about trust all of a sudden. What's wrong? Is getting a taste of your own medicine a bit too much for you?"

Phantom stopped. His eyebrows jumped up a notch as he stared back at the Chief Barracks Officer. Despite his stoic and hard demeanor, Eagle was visibly distraught. Phantom saw what a toll this was taking on him. "Wow, this is really getting to you, Eagle."

EagleRock went cold. "Watch your tongue, Supreme Commander. You and Slash think I'm not worthy to run this Barrack? Like I earned this post by playing grab-ass and fucking around? I earned this position the old-fashioned way, and you know it." EagleRock took two or three steps backwards and held his arms out to his sides. "But I guess times change, huh? Obviously that's just not good enough anymore! Guess my leadership style just doesn't cut it anymore."

"Now, wait a minute--"

EagleRock stepped back up to Phantom. "Let me tell you something. I'd put my ass out on the line for these soldiers any day the week. I sure as hell have enough down here already. Four fucking matches so far. I killed five of those motherfucking mods myself. FIVE!! I'd kill EVERY ONE of them if I had to. And what's the thanks I get? MUTINY??

"I wouldn't--"

"DON'T you dare talk back to me, Phantom. If you want your leader, you got it."

EagleRock started away towards the rooms. He spun around again at Phantom. "Oh, and I want this place cleaned up by 2100 hours. If you're gonna make a mess, you're gonna clean it up."

"But--"

"That's a direct order, Phantom." He turned around and continued his path to his room.

Phantom fumed as he stared at the hallway where EagleRock disappeared into.

Sentio was sitting in a chair in EagleRock's room, waiting for him to come. He was called in to give a debriefing on that happened between Slash and Phantom, which was making him nervous. Sentio was not one to falter at confrontations like this, but seeing EagleRock as upset as he was made this an exception. Eagle was not the kind of guy to blow up at people or really get too serious, unless shit really started to hit the fan. Eagle had dispensed with his usual casual leadership and became very regimented and cold. Sentio sat there, waiting, not really sure what to expect. He felt like he was back in grade school waiting to see the principal.

EagleRock opened his door and closed it behind him without a word. Sentio stood up and saluted. "At ease," EagleRock said as he saluted back and motioned for Sentio to sit down. "I want every detail possible about what happened."

"Yes, sir." Sentio proceeded gave him as detailed of a description as possible. EagleRock just sat back in his chair, staring at Sentio, nodding most of the time. He would throw in a question every now and then, but most of the time, he just let Sentio speak. He was showing little emotion, which was unnerving Sentio even more than he was already.

"And that's the end of it, sir." Sentio completed his full debreifing, pausing for a response. EagleRock sat back in his chair, looking up in deep thought. Sentio just sat there without a word for a good two minutes before he got the courage to speak up again. "Um, sir?"

EagleRock lowered his head back to look at Sentio. "Supreme Commander," he replied.

"Permission to speak freely, sir."

"Go ahead."

"I know I haven't been one of your officers for long, but I can tell this is really bothering you." EagleRock nodded. "Well, to be honest, sir, I was wondering why. I mean, you deal with this stuff all the time, right?" EagleRock gave him a look. "Now, I don't mean that I'm worried, not at all--I am just curious, and well, wanted to know if I could help...sir."

EagleRock sighed and looked down at the table. "Calm down, Sentio. You don't need to watch your words with me. You were always someone I could trust."

"Thank you, sir."

"Look, I've dealt with more than most around here. I've had to kill, and I've sure had my share of enemies. But one thing I've never dealt well with was betrayal from my own men."

"Betrayal? You mean--"

"I don't know. But I need to find out."

"I understand, sir. I can see why you're getting so upset."

"It's not easy being unsure if someone's going to stab you in the back any minute."

"But who here would--"

"I'd rather not say. But I can say that things have been happening around here that don't add up. And these aren't things you can just go up and ask people."

"That's why you had to stop everyone from talking and separate us."

"Precisely. I can't have the entire Barrack at each other's throats over this. I needed to lock it down before it got out."

"Makes sense. But what are you going to do?"

"I need to talk to some people about this. Slash and Phantom are the obvious ones, but I needed you out of the picture as fast as possible. You're the objective one in this case, and a person I could trust."

"Thank you, sir. But is there anything I can do for you?"

"Absolutely. I need you to go out there as Relations Officer and address the rest of the Barracks. You'll find them waiting in the mess."

"Me, sir? But wouldn't you be better off doing it?"

"Probably, but there's no time right now. I have things to sort out, and time is of the essence. But you're certainly no stranger to damage control."

"Yes, sir. I'll handle it immediately."

"See that you do. We're hanging by a thread right now, and I'm not going to have Wade and his cronies defeat us from the inside-out."

EagleRock stood up to leave as Sentio replied, "Definitely, sir. You can count on me."

Eagle looked back before he left, as he said, "I know."

Sentio smiled as he got up himself to address the troops.

EagleRock strolled down a few short steps until he found himself at the entrance to SlashFirestorm's door. He immediately walked in and shut the door.

Slash was lying face down on his bed, and appeared to have been crying at some point. "Stand up, soldier," Eagle said briskly as stood next to his bed.

"Eagle," Slash said as he quickly got up, "I'm glad you're here. We need to talk."

"Yes we do. Sit down." Slash sat down on his bed as Eagle pulled up the chair next to Slash's desk. "Care to explain yourself?"

"First off, I know you liked her, and I understand what made you do it. So don't think I'm insensitive to that" Slash nodded. "But there is a thing to be said about compromising your role in this Barrack."

"Well, realize it. I stepped out of that portal to a bunch of blank faces. Morale is dead. Destroyed. Gone. Honestly, what were you thinking?"

"I wasn't."

"That much is obvious. But let's talk about something a bit more important. A little thing you mentioned about me 'letting her die.'"

"I said that in a fit of rage, sir."

"But you said it, Slash. You see, there's a funny thing about people who are put up against the rope emotionally. The truth tends to slip out."

Slash's demeanor changed from apologetic to more defensive. "What are you accusing me of?"

"I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm simply asking for the truth."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let's back it up a notch. LittleWashu dies, and you say that I 'let her die.' I'm assuming you're not accusing me of intentionally letting her die?"

Slash's eyes went wide. "Oh no no no, sir, definitely not."

"Didn't think so. So we know my intentions are just. So how else could I have let her die?" Slash just stared back, and didn't say a word. "Perhaps you think I sent her out to die when I didn't need to?" Slash flinched when he heard that. EagleRock raised his eyebrows at the sight of that. "See? The truth comes out when you need it to."

Slash sighed. "Okay, okay. I just...wonder...if we should be approaching this another way."

"What do you propose?"

"Well, what if we contacted Wade and asked what it is he really wants?"

"He'll just lie to us again like he did before. What good is that?"

"No, what I mean is, what if we can get in touch with him and lay it on the table? You know, get him to spill the beans. Find out what he is really after."

"Again, easier said than done."

"No, but I really think we can do it."

"How?" Slash stopped at Eagle's question. He didn't say more. Eagle continued, "See what I mean? I mean, it's not like I didn't think of these things, but you're basically looking at scenarios that just aren't reachable."

"Okay, fine. But my problem is that we're basically 'waiting it out' until we get to this one map with one door that we don't even know leads anywhere."

"It's the only lead we have. Wade hasn't even talked to us since that first night we came here. There's nothing else we have to work with, Slash."

"Yeah, but how can you be sure it's a good lead?"

"I'm not. But I can tell you this, it's our best chance."

"What makes you say that, though? How can you be so sure?"

"Slash, I've played Counter-Strike for years. All of the maps were obviously perfect for a small skirmish of players, but were ultimately works of art, as they basically submerged you in atmosphere."

"R--Right."

"When I first went out there and looked at these maps, they were identical to the originals. I mean, everything was spot on. Even random cans and other debris were as they should be."

"Okay."

"Then, I see this door, in one of the maps, underneath a bridge, in a dark area of the map, barely visible."

"Go on."

"If that was a trap, then why don't you explain to me why they made it so inconspicuous?"

"Okay, you're right, I can't. But I just feel like we could be doing more, that's all."

"I understand, Slash. You were never one to like the feeling of powerlessness." Slash's eyes perked up and he nodded in agreement. "Why do you think I'm the one that goes out there to fight all the time? It's all I have the power to do. Don't you think that if there was some other way I could get out of this without expending people's lives that I would?"

"Yeah, I guess so, sir."

"Wade has his reasons for wanting us dead, but that doesn't mean we need to go quietly. Like I said before, this is done just a bit too well for him to have slipped up too easily. If we became a threat and he wanted us dead, he could probably go ahead and stop us anytime he wanted to. But if we play along, at least we're keeping them happy as clams while we beat them at their own game."

Slash just nodded as he stared at his feet again. "Hey, Eagle...I had a question."

"What is it, Slash?"

"Well, what do think about, you know, what we do as a whole?"

EagleRock curled his brow as he looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the Barracks as a whole. Blamming and protecting, whistleblowing, you know. Is it the best way to protect the Portal? What if there was another way?"

EagleRock stared back at Slash. "Well, if there was another way to do it, I think it'd give some people too much power."

"Well, yeah, but don't you always say that most people out there don't know what they're doing and end up supporting these malicious groups out there? That the 'unwashed masses' of Newgrounds just help these groups along due to their own greed?"

"Slash, I can see where you're going with this. And I remind you of that old adage: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If I had to say whether the system should be changed, I'd say no. Giving more power to any one person would just make it worse."

SlashFirestorm's eyes saddened at the hearing of this.

EagleRock stood up. "Look, Slash. I know you're upset, so just stay in here the rest of the night and relax. I don't need more confrontations. But let me remind about my philosophy on something: trust." Slash looked up at Eagle.

"You know I'm a naturally trusting person, and I often rely on my trust of others. Many people say it's my biggest weakness. However, it's also my biggest strength. It was the only way I could have built up the Barracks the way they are today: trusting those around me. But trust can be a weakness as well, and it can get you killed."

Slash just continued to look down at the ground as Eagle continued. "Trust should be given liberally to people, but only to those that deserve it. One needs to be careful who they trust, Slash."

EagleRock started towards the door, when Slash called out. "Wait, sir. I--need to tell you something." Eagle turned around and stared back at Slash, whose eyes were starting to tear. "I--can't tell you how sorry I am, sir."

"It should be the whole Barrack you should be apologizing to. I suggest you do so tomorrow when we congregate. When you do so, you can consider your command fully reinstated."

"T--thanks, sir."

EagleRock walked out of the room and shut the door, leaving Slash to collect with his own thoughts.

The morning after the confrontations was still pretty quiet, but the thick atmosphere had dissipated slightly after the events that transpired the night before. EagleRock dealt with his officers as Sentio quelled the rest of the Barracks that were in the mess. Phantom even cleaned up the damage done during the fight, albeit grudgingly. After preparing for the day and a quick meal at the mess, everyone found themselves in the lounge. EagleRock wasn't there.

"Where's EagleRock?" asked Sentio. "He's usually the first one out here."

"I wouldn't call this your usual day," said Coop83.

However, Eagle didn't make them wait long, as he eventually came out of the hallway from his room. Sentio called for attention, to which everyone lined up and saluted Eagle. He dismissively waved at the line of soldiers, saying "At ease, everyone." He walked up in front of the group. It looked as though he was preparing for one of his speeches. They were definitely one of his double-edged swords, as they could be quite long, but when properly timed, they served their purpose well.

"Fellow Elite Guards," he started, "We've all been through been a lot these past few days, and it's been hard on all of us. I'm not going to pretend like the loss of our members hasn't rested heavily on all of our shoulders, especially mine. But I can tell you one thing: arguments and disagreements between ourselves will defeat us quicker than any bullet in one of those firefights. I'm sure Wade and his moderators would just love to see us falter down here, as it would allow us to get romped out there all the quicker. So far that hasn't happened.

"Let's take a look at what we've done so far: we've fought 8 skirmishes with these people, and we've won half of them. That doesn't seem too impressive, but let's also remember that we've had to fight matches that were blatantly stacked against us. Don't forget that Supreme Commander Coop had to fight two people by himself in one match.

"Either way, we have ourselves a huge advantage, and that's strength in numbers. While we are down to ten members down here, the moderators are down to seven. And in terms of skills, well, we have eight Supreme Commanders. Eight. Consider that."

EagleRock paused for a second as the members stirred. "On that note, I had some business to attend to. First off, your Recruitment Officer had something to say."

SlashFirestorm came up next to EagleRock and proceeded to apologize to the members. His face was very sad and remorseful, and he made no effort to hide it. He even apologized to Phantom, who accepted. Everyone gave him applause afterwards.

EagleRock continued after Slash finished his apology. "Well, since that is out of the way, it's time to turn to happier business. Yesterday's match was a big win for us, despite the loss of more of our Barracks members. It did tie up the running, and it thinned out the moderators even more. Corporal PossiblePancakes certainly kept the match alive in our favor, and certainly kept me alive as well. For his performance out there, I'm promoting him to Sergeant. Good work, soldier."

Everyone applauded. Pancakes thanked EagleRock and the din eventually settled down. "It certainly feels good to give a promotion that hasn't been posthumous. Now, as we prepare for today's fight, let's remember that we are able to take whatever it is they want to throw at us. We've done it before, and I sure as hell plan on doing it again. If they want to try to defeat us, I say we beat them at their own game!"

The Barracks members started in a cheer. "You are the Elite Guard, and you are members of my Barracks. You are, quite simply, the best...of the best...of the best. Even Wade and his cronies know that. That's why they have to fight us like this. And they still cannot bring us down! So let's go out there and show them what we're made of!"

By the end of the speech, morale was strong and the room was in cheers. Members were patting him on the back and visibly happier. Even Phantom and Slash appeared happier, even if they weren't in full uproars. Things were certainly looking up. The Barracks spent the rest of the time they had relaxing in the lounge waiting for Wade to announce the match of the day. The time finally came as Wade started booming through the speakers yet again.

"Hey there Newgrounds! It's that time again! Time to see the Elite Guard fight YOUR Newgrounds Moderators in the Newgrounds Battle Royale! Today we're keeping it simple with a 5 vs. 5 skirmish in the iconic de_dust demolition map!"

EagleRock jumped up in elation and pumped his fist in triumph. "NOW we have them where we want them!" He turned to the members, saying, "Today's the day we fight back in our own way. Once we get into that door, we'll show them what's what!"

The din quieted down quickly at word of this. "Huh?" replied EagleRock.

"Sir, you're obviously tired. You've fought more matches than anyone else, and it's not fair to have you going out there putting yourself on the line."

"Slash, I appreciate your concern, but this is the match we've been riding on since the beginning. I need to be down there."

"Sir, with all due respect, any other day I'd say you should be leading us through that doorway, but you know you're fatigued and we need someone down there that is on their game."

Coop83 chimed in. "He's right, sir. Having you alive is the most important thing we can do right now. And if you go down there in your current state, who knows what will happen."

Phantom nodded in agreement. "The man has a point. I think it's best if you stay here."

EagleRock looked back at everyone. "I guess you all have a point. This cannot fail, no matter what. If I'm not going to be down there, though, I need someone to be ready to feign death and gain entry to that door. Phantom, you're my best man for this. Will you do it?"

Phantom approached him shook his hand firmly. "You know I'm the one for the job."

"Of course. You were always the covert expert in this Barrack, anyway. I will also need someone down there to help protect Phantom as he gets down there. X-Naut, you're a strong fighter as well. I'm assuming you'll get some form of weaponry that will allow you to hold off the long hallway enough for Phantom to appear to get hit by a stray bullet."

"You got it, Eagle."

"That settles Phantom's team. I will also need my most skilled of fighters out there to keep the terrorists away from Phantom and actually win the match. Slash, you are my best man for this. Your fighting style will keep them held up in the hallway for a long time, and will allow Phantom's subterfuge to transpire. I'll need you holding them back as you rush in, pull a few good shots off, then come back to advance again. Can I count on you?"

"That's the only way to fight."

"Great. I'll need to other fighters down there to follow Slash. Supreme Commander pwroftheseagoat, you'll do well for a group skirmish. Lastly, I want BlueHippo down there as well. You three should be able to set up a good wall to stop the terrorists and give Phantom time to do his thing."

Both pwr and Hippo responded positively and all five Supreme Commanders went to their lockers. EagleRock followed, along with the rest of the Elite Guards in support as the team suited up.

EagleRock pat Phantom on the back as he finished getting ready and had all of his munitions in place. "Remember," he said, "save that grenade for the door once they call the match."

Phantom just winked as he stepped towards the portals. Slash and the others followed. They all stepped into their respective portals as they were quickly transported to Dust. EagleRock and the rest of the Barracks took seat in the chairs by the computer screens that showed them the map in detail.

Down at the map, the soldiers locked and loaded. Through the radio, Slash called a few commands to the soldiers.

"Okay, just as Eagle said it. Phantom and X-Naut are going down under the bridge, while I will take the rest above in the tunnel. I'll need you two as covering fire as I rush in and retreat to take them down. That'll give Phantom the time he needs."

Phantom replied, "Don't get yourselves killed."

Back at the base, EagleRock was staring at the screen with an intensity rarely seen. Coop83 commented, "Sir, you're okay with this? Are we going to make this through?"

"I don't know," replied EagleRock. "I can tell you one thing, though. I'm pretty damn sure Phantom will get us in that doorway. The thing I'm worried about is how many lives it's going to cost us."

"Yeah," said Andrea364, "But won't Slash keep them at bay? He's the strongest firepower we have."

"Even still," said Eagle,"He's one person. How much damage can one person do?"

Just then, the siren went off as Wade cried out "Commence!" The counter-terrorists started off down the hallway to put the plan in action. Phantom and X-Naut quickly started down the large ramp that would take them into the dark area underneath the bridge, while Slash and the rest would be encroaching the tunnels. For both groups, it would only take a turn of the corner to see their fate.

The team of Supreme Commanders started their campaign at de_dust, just as planned. Phantom and X-Naut rounded the corner that brought them in plain view of the ramp under the tunnel. Past the bridge and at the other side of the map they conveniently found mamatequila crouching, holding an SG-552 rifle. The terrorist used the available 2x zoom to pinpoint the two Elite Guards that started rushing under the bridge. Phantom was running at quite a clip ahead of X-Naut, as mamatequila trained her sights on him. She squeezed off a good 6 or 7 rounds at the running soldier, and managed a shot in the leg and a shot in the chest.

Like clockwork, Phantom quickly dropped down to the ground, falling to his side apparently to his death. Since he was underneath the bridge, he was ensconced in a dark area, in between a pair of blockades which hid his body from view. X-Naut, behind him, had a scope of his own on his AUG, which he trained on mamatequila's head. While his zoom only went to 1.5x, it was good enough to squeeze two well-placed rounds into the crouched moderator's head, downing her quickly.

Meanwhile, Slash and the other soldiers had readied their formation. Using flashbangs and smoke grenades, they set up a strong defense against the terrorists that were on the other side of the tunnel, trying to push through. The gunfire was very live and created a front that would be next to impossible to pass through. Like trench warfare, anyone who dared to pass into the no-man's land section of this map was sure to meet certain death.

Slash's "rush and retreat" plan was in strong effect, as he was well-defended by pwrofthesagoat and BlueHippo. Both gave strong covering fire as Slash darted in and out of view, executing flashbang tosses and spraying gunfire at them. While it was not accomplishing anything other than wasting time, it served their exact need, which was to buy Phantom time.

X-Naut, after downing mamatequila, radioed in. "We're good down here," he said, as he slowly crept up past the bridge, trying to catch the terrorists from behind.

BlueHippo up above radioed back, "Copy that X-Naut. Slash, fall back! We'll retreat to the bombsite and let them advance."

Slash had just returned back to the other two soldiers after another rush. "Negative. I'm going in there. This time it's serious. Give me cover and I'm taking out as many as I can."

"Slash, that's suicide! You can't--" Slash didn't listen. He tossed his last flashbang into the area and started shooting, guns blazing into the room. Hippo and pwr frantically tried to cover him, but the smoke cover and gunfire made it difficult. Slash disappeared into the fray.

Down below, Phantom was lying on the ground, motionless, not willing to twitch, bat an eye, or do anything to break his cover. He had very carefully taken out his frag grenade and pulled the pin. Holding tight to the handle, he was in perfect position to lob the grenade across the ramp and over to the door. Patiently he lied there, waiting for the match to be called, so he could start his rush. All he could do was listen to the radio chatter and the action above.

"Slash! Slash! This is Hippo. Do you copy? Are you there?"

"X-Naut, we lost Slash. He did some suicide run into the fray. Do you see him?"

"That's a negative, Hippo. I'm coming around quietly back to their spawn site. Maybe I can pick a few of them off."

"We're still holed up here at the tunnels. They're giving us heavy fire up here. I'm going to *BLAM BLAM* Uhhh--" Hippo's transmission had cut off.

"NO!!! YOU SONS OF BITCHES! YOU WILL--" pwroftheseagoat had been cut off as well.

"Guys? Are you there? Do you copy? I'm at the end of their spawn. I see Carmilla now...*BLAM*...got her! Do you copy? Anyone? Wait, I see another...wait, who is that? Hold on--"

"All of the counter-terrorists have been defeated. Terrorists win!"

Phantom had perfectly timed the tossing of his grenade so that it went off the same time the loud siren sounded, signaling the end of the match. The grenade landed true and blasted open the rogue door under the bridge. Grabbing his Steyr TMP, he darted across the way and kicked the door off its hinges as he burst inside.

What he found was the top of a concrete stairway that looked to lead many flights down underneath the map. Phantom, holding his TMP at the ready, flew down the stairs as fast as he could. His blood went thick with adrenaline as he made each 180 degree turn, spinning around down each flight. The stairway appeared to be deeper than he anticipated, as he eventually reached his ninth or tenth flight down. There was nothing to be seen in this stairway, save gray concrete walls and more stairs below. His body, going warm from his breakneck speed, was starting to get dizzy from the constant turning he was doing going down the steps.

Thoughts started rushing through is head as he kept running down the never-ending stairs. What happened up above? How did we fail? Why did Slash sacrifice himself? How did they defeat us so quickly? What the hell was going on, anyway?

Phantom still found his descent going at 16 stories, with no end in sight. He dare not speak, dare not shoot, dare not trying anything other than reach wherever this stairway led him. He knew this was their only chance, and knew for sure that if he didn't succeed at whatever he had to do, the Barracks were done for.

Finally, at the 20th story down, Phantom, dizzy and tired from his run, reached the end of the staircase. He found at the foot of the stairs a heavy steel doorway. It was particularly uninviting, and Phantom had to shake the dizziness out of his head as he doubled his grip on his Steyr TMP. At this point, he decided stealth was the best way to proceed. He crouched as he slowly pulled open the door, which did so with no protest and no sound whatsoever. He crept to the other side of the door and pulled it closed. What he found inside was nothing short of a marvel.

What appeared below was a huge room, many stories high, and as large as a gymnasium. Jumbo-tron computer screens lined the walls in a room with a considerable amount of technology. Server racks, computer workstations, surveillance terminals created rows of desks that filled the space. The blackness of the room was only pieced by the glow of the screens in the room. Along the far wall to the right was the largest screen in the room, which showed the intricate details of de_dust. It was obvious that no crevice of this map was hidden, and it was quite clear that they could see everything that went on down here in this surveillance room.

Surprisingly, though, in this room of technology, there was no one to be found. Phantom, realizing that his position was probably known already, walked over to the huge screen. He checked the camera positions laden all across the room, and found the one that detailed where he had hidden. From the sight of the camera, though, the place where he was hidden was too entrenched to be seen. However, the way the camera was, him lobbing the grenade and rushing to go through the doorway would have been easy to see.

Spinning around, holding up his TMP again, he searched the room for any signs of life. He couldn't find any as he crept along the rows of desks and workstations that the room had, including the long row of server racks in the back of the room. He slowly made his way to the other end of the room, where he found a single door, not unlike the one he entered across the room.

Taking a deep breath, he steadied his nerve and kicked the door in.

The room he saw was definitely smaller than the last. It looked to be about ten feet square. At least that was Phantom's best guess, as the only light source in the entire room was a very dim desk lamp that produced an faint green light across the desk in the center of the room. The desk itself partitioned the room in half, separating Phantom's location from a leather high-backed chair behind the desk. Phantom took two steps into the room as he pointed his gun at the chair.

"So you found me, did you?" Wade's voice said from behind the chair.

"You bet," replied Phantom. At this point, Phantom's mind was rushing with decisions as he figured out what he wanted to do. Something told him he should pull the trigger and get it over with, as too much was risked on this mission to fail. On the other hand, he would like to hear what he had to say, just to answer that elusive why.

But again, thoughts turned to EagleRock and the rest of the Elite Guard Barracks members who were waiting for him to finish this ordeal for good. On the other hand, he pictured in his mind heading back up the stairs and through the portal, having nothing to tell them about why they were there, and what this genocide was all about. He pictured the surviving members up there with no rhyme nor reason to why their fellow soldiers were slaughtered.

He made up his mind. He stared carefully at the back of the chair, and aimed his silenced TMP. He squeezed the trigger.

The click from the barrel echoed across the concrete walls. The TMP, despite having a full magazine and being properly loaded, did not fire.

The dark character spun around in his chair, laughing. The darkness of the room did not illuminate the person, only the barrel of his AK47. "You didn't really think I'd give you weapons I couldn't control, did you?"

Phantom lowered his weapon. "Show yourself, you coward."

"With pleasure," Wade replied. Gun in hand, he sat forward, pulling his face close to the desk, the lamp shining light on his face. Phantom's eyes widened at what he saw.

"YOU. I didn't even think you existed. I thought you were an urban legend."

"Well, here I am, in all my glory. And I must congratulate you on your efforts to break through that door. I must say hearing you plot and conspire your way down here was quite amusing."

Phantom winced. The Barracks members seemed to have forgotten that he was able to hear them talk down in their own control room. "So what was this...a setup?"

"Not really. To be honest, I didn't give a damn about your little 'mission.' It doesn't change anything, really." Wadolf's words cut into Phantom like ice-cold daggers. "I must admit, though, you Barracks members really know how to materialize hope out of thin air. I think that's why you're such good fun to kill."

Phantom gritted his teeth. "I love how you can talk about us like we were cattle. Tell me, why exactly do you have this vendetta against us?"

"Ah, another futile action of those lost in their own fate. It's not good enough to know you're dying, you need to know why. As if it really matters." Wade took a pause to take a deep breath. "But, if it will rest your soul all the better to know why, I'll be glad to tell you. You are--how do you say--everything that's wrong with Newgrounds."

"Us? All we do is try to protect it!"

"Protect it how? With democracy? Fairness? And this stupid concept about getting the masses to vote fairly. Really. Like those people out there really give a shit about someone other than themselves? That EagleRock has you under some massive delusions. I thought I was good at cult mentality."

"So why don't you tell me what is 'right' with Newgrounds, huh?"

"Simple. Get these voting idiots off the Portal and do it the way it should be done: by those that I can trust. This place has been run for too long by a brainless idiot that made one good flash over 10 years ago and his useless brother that sits around playing with knives and flashlights."

"Where are Tom and Wade, anyway?"

"None of your concern, of course. If I were you, I'd be more concerned about how I'm going to die."

"I don't need to worry about that. Your AK answered that question a while ago."

"Oh, no, my dear Phantom. You're going back up to your precious Elite Guard to keep fighting. Since you people are into delusions, I'm sure you're calling it 'the good fight.' And, since I'll be right as usual, I'll expect you to tell them all about me. I do enjoy a good TV show for my late evenings."

"Why not just kill me now? What's the point?"

"Because," Wadolf said as his eyes hardened, "I love to see you fail at what you do best. Some Elite Guards you are. Can't even make their way out of my little base. And you just keep coming for more. Every match I have, no matter how stacked, you just keep coming like lambs to the slaughter. It's amazing, really, what this sickness you people call 'pride' can do."

"You're a sick, twisted individual. You know that?"

"I'd much rather be that than be like you people."

"Honorable?"

"DEAD. Or, in the case of you and the rest of those up there waiting for you, in an early state of dead."

"Oh aren't you just the intimidator. So tell me, Wadolf, why sacrifice your own moderators to get rid of us?"

"Hmm," Wadolf sat back in his chair, masking his face yet again. He raised his wrist up to check his watch and perked his voice up. "Will you look at that? Looks like our little chit-chat time is up! So why not mosey on back upstairs and go play with your friends. They're probably all worried by now."

Phantom didn't have anything to say back. He just spit on the ground as he dropped his TMP and left the room. "Oh," said Wadolf, "you might want to take that gun with you, Phantom. I'm afraid I won't be restocking your locker with another one, so you might want to go ahead and make sure you keep that on-hand. It might help you in battle, you know." Phantom came back in the room and picked up the weapon. He then spit at Wadolf and turned back around to leave. As he left the room, Wadolf shot him twice in the right leg. Phantom fell to the ground.

Wadolf got up from his desk and walked to the doorway. "Oops! Terribly sorry about that. I have a feeling that might make your climb a bit more...difficult. Have fun!" He then slammed the door to the office and left Phantom in the surveillance room, nothing to hear but the fans of the servers and computers surrounding him.

"What I would give for one clean punch. Just one," he muttered to the dead air as he pulled himself up and started the journey back up to de_dust. Twenty long stories he had to climb, his right foot dragging the entire way. This gunshot wound was different from the others. There was still no pain in his leg, but it was surely crippled. Phantom was reminded yet again at exactly how much power over the weapons that psychopath Wadolf had.

The dry and empty stairs echoed each step he took as he pulled himself up with both arms on the railing, dragging his protesting leg behind him. He had plenty of time to contemplate Wadolf's words as he slowly made his climb, flight by flight, step by step, inch by inch.

It took forever.

Phantom kept going as diligently as he could, not matter how much his body resisted to the climb. Steps became harder and harder as his muscles burned, dragging his dead weight of a leg behind him and up each step. Every step he took had the dead leg bump up against each step with an unsettling thump that not only was hard on the body, but even harder on the mind.

His body eventually started to give up. As he reached the top of yet another flight of stairs, his body collapsed onto the landing, where he laid face up. Staring at the landing above him, he panted in exhaustion as his body ached. His body laid there, unable to move. Phantom closed his eyes, to which is body quickly responded with sleep.

Sleep. The last refuge of a dying soul. Phantom slept for hours in that stairwell, dreamless. His sleep was lucid, but there was nothing to dream about. He was simply aware of the blackness around him. Nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to feel. It seemed to go on forever.

-----

Phantom woke up many hours later to find himself in the same stairwell. His body, though it was still tired, showed signs that it was willing to move. He pulled himself up onto the landing more fully, and pulled his body up using the railing. Testing his leg, he noted that it wasn't quite useless, though it was hard to put weight on it. He managed to take to a slow limp up the stairs yet again.

Thoughts rushed through his mind as he made that endless climb. Facing EagleRock and his fellow Barracks members would be difficult to reveal the news he had to offer. He knew what it would do to everyone and how much it would hurt the shreds of morale they had left. He turned over in his head how he was going to reveal it, playing dialogue through is head as he took each slow, laborious step up to the map.

While the physical steps up to the map were easier now, thanks to his leg, it was still torture. He felt like he would go mad considering his options. He knew Wadolf was twisted, insane, and just plain crazy, but he couldn't help but think there were this many steps on purpose. It was almost as if every step he took was planed, like Wadolf was some twisted and demented god that had control over all of their fates.

Eventually, after what seemed like multiple eternities, Phantom reached the top of the stairs. he stepped out the now destroyed doorway, finding himself back at de_dust. It was night, and hard to see anything, as the darkness enveloped the area with a deepness rarely seen. He slowly walked back up the ramp that took him to the center area managing to bump into a wall more than once. Squinting his eyes as he tried to acclimate to the darkness, he realized he did make it to the center area of the map.

Looking down to his right, down the long way, he noticed CT spawn, where the portals were. He stumbled his way down the long path, trying to find the portal he was supposed to go to. Once he actually reached the portals, he saw they were all closed up and cold from inactivity. It wasn't until he paced back and forth around the portals that one opened up, shining a blinding light from inside.

"Fucker. That light could've helped, you know," he muttered again to himself, expressing his utter disdain for Wadolf. He crept into the portal as he transported back to the base.

As his body warped through spacetime, he soon found himself back at the base, dark and hopeless as ever. His body, even more taxed by the portal travel, fell down in front of the portal.

PossiblePancakes came running in from the lounge. "Holy shit, you're alive! Sirs! Sirs!" Pancakes ran down the hallway to EagleRock's room. Pancakes came back with Eagle and Sentio in quick pursuit.

"I don't fucking believe it!" said Eagle as he helped Phantom off the ground. "Pancakes, you and Sentio go help him get to his locker right away! Be quick. We need to get him comfortable."

Phantom replied, "Yeah, do I have a lot to tell you. But we can't talk here. It's not safe."

EagleRock looked at Phantom with a look of seriousness in his eyes. "Look, Phantom...just get relaxed and come to my room. We have a lot to talk about."

Phantom, still limping and exhausted, stored his equipment in his locker and made his way into EagleRock's room. Sentio was in there with Eagle, waiting for Phantom to arrive.

"Lay down on the bed, okay?" stated Eagle. "I want you to be able to relax at least."

"Thanks," he said, forcing his way on the bed. He certainly appreciated the mattress and pillow that afforded him some kind of consolation.

"Do you feel any pain, Phantom?" asked Sentio.

"It's strange...I don't feel pain, but my body is trying to tell me in some other way that I'm badly injured. I can't quite explain it. All I know is it took me forever to drag my ass back here, and this adrenaline shot doesn't seem to cover muscle aches."

"Well, just lie down and relax. You should be fine by the morning. Can you tell us about the door? Something tells me it wasn't good news, but I still want to hear every detail possible."

"Not much to tell, really," said Phantom. "Got my ass into the room after the battle, went down twenty long flights of stairs. Got down there to find their control room empty, and found a small room connecting to it. Found our enemy."

Sentio went wide-eyed. "You found Wade? Did you get him??"

"Not quite," said Phantom. "For one, our damn guns don't work all the time. For two, it wasn't Wade...it was Wadolf."

"WADOLF? You're fucking kidding me," said Eagle.

"I didn't believe it either," said Phantom. "Fucker looks and talks just like the asshole you'd think him to be. If he didn't have an AK47 in my face, man would I have had a field day!"

"I heard some intel about him a few weeks ago," said Eagle. "Heard a lot of rumors. When I got the report from the Recon Ops, I chalked it up to drinking on the job. I guess I was wrong; it's true after all. If I remember that report correctly, this guy was capable of doing some real nasty shit. He's basically your poster-child sociopath."

"Well, he's sure as hell real, and yes is he a douchebag. Though I'll tell you something--If I ever get a clean shot at him, he's gonna learn the true meaning of being a sociopath. Man do I wish I could've shoved that AK47 where the sun don't shine." Phantom took a deep breath. "Anyway, after did his pleasantries he said he wants to kill us because he doesn't believe users have the right to judge new Portal entrants."

"Complete totalitarianism. No more, no less. He calls the shots, his cronies do the work."

"Cronies," stated EagleRock. "Moderators. They do the grunt work, he gets to watch."

"That doesn't make sense, though," said Sentio. "How the hell could he have TAKEN OVER Newgrounds? And when the hell did this happen?"

"Is it really that elusive to you, Sentio?" EagleRock looked to Sentio and spoke matter-of-factly. "What the hell just happened in Newgrounds?"

"You mean, the renovations?" replied Sentio?

"Precisely," continued EagleRock. "Not only does he appear to be behind all of this, but he probably did it by disguising himself as Wade. Not only is he in the perfect spot to do his own reconnaissance, he rules Newgrounds while he does it."

"Makes a lot of sense when you say it that way," said Phantom. "He certainly appeared to have things exactly the way he wanted to down there. I mean, you should've seen the control room they had. The price of the equipment down there alone must have been astronomical."

"Not to mention these maps," said EagleRock. "It's scary to think how much power he has over Newgrounds right now. For him to pull off a stunt like this, he had to have taken over, and in a big way. There are a lot of moderators to fool, and they're not exactly stupid."

"Yeah," said Sentio, "but there were some pretty smart moderators out there! I mean, we saw Evark, JoS, Denvish, and even BigBadRon out there!"

"If BigBadRon was smarter, he wouldn't be dead right now," mused Phantom. "But still, you named some different people there. Let's just say Denvish and BigBadRon don't exactly moderate in the same way."

"He's right," said EagleRock. "Do you think the moderators are in on it?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," replied Phantom, "Some of them certainly look like they would just love a guy like Wadolf in power. On the other hand, others, don't."

"Maybe some are in on it, and some are not," said EagleRock. "Newgrundling said something to me back in Italy when we faced off. I still haven't pinpointed it. After the match finished, he said, 'Even if I wanted to kill you, I couldn't.'"

"That makes sense. Either way, we don't even know if the moderators are aware of this."

"While we're on the subject those running Newgrounds, Wadolf had to do something to Wade and Tom to get them out of the way," said Sentio. "Did you get any info out of him on them, Phantom?"

"Fucker didn't give up the info. I asked him but he didn't answer me. Just kept going on about how we're going to die and how he loves listening in on our conversations. Wish we didn't that little fact slip by."

"Ugh," said Eagle. "At least we got rid of the bugs in my room. We kinda figured we were bugged by how well they staged the fight against us." Eagle pointed to the corner of his room where the metal wall was pulled back and the bug removed. EagleRock produced the destroyed bug from his desk and showed it to Phantom.

"Somehow I don't think that's the only bug he stuck in here," he replied. "Like I said, he doesn't miss a beat."

"Speaking of that, how'd you get back here?" asked Sentio. "And how did you get those injuries?"

"Said he wanted me to come back and tell you all, so the fucker can revel in his control over us. He claims he 'wants to beat us at our own game.' He's got a funny way of doing it, though. Even had the nerve to shoot me in the legs as I left."

"That also is bothering me," said EagleRock. "I thought this adrenaline stuff was supposed to let us be just fight, walk, and do whatever even with wounds like that. The only person to get really banged up was Coop, and that was after a bomb blast."

"Yeah, well, he must have thought of that. While my gun not work down there, his did, and sure as hell made that twenty story climb hard. Fainted in the middle of it for a few hours."

"Holy shit," said Sentio. "That explains what took you so long getting back."

"Yeah. Honestly, I think those adrenaline shots only work for the bullets in those matches. His AK47 packed quite a punch. Though I do admit after being out of it for a few hours did help it along. I might heal after all is said and done."

"Let's hope," said Eagle. "You were gone for a good 8 hours. We thought we lost you after a while. I was quite happy to see you come through that portal. But," EagleRock sighed with sadness, "I was certainly hoping for some better news, honestly. We need it."

"Morale that low after that match?"

"Like you'd never imagine," said Sentio. "Everyone's ready to roll over and die at this point."

"It was a rough match, I know," said Phantom. "Listening to it was hard enough down there, knowing I couldn't do a thing. At least the got me down there to get to the door."

"Didn't do us much, though," said Sentio. "All of that for nothing. And everyone had to see it, too."

"Yeah," said Phantom. "But tell me, what is the plan at this point, Eagle?"

"The plan," said EagleRock, "is to still fight."

"Still?" Phantom was surprised at hearing this. "But WHY? All they're going to do is kill us, whether it's out there or down here. Seriously, why give him the show he wants?"

EagleRock stared at Phantom. "I want revenge. Plain simple revenge. I want him dead. And I want to kill him myself."

Sentio looked at EagleRock, then back at Phantom. "You don't know, do you?"

"No! What the fuck happened around here? Can't you people spill it out?"

EagleRock's eyes dropped. "I assume you were listening to the match, right?"

"Every single word."

"Well, then, you heard what happened. Slash ran into the enemy pack, and then the rest of the people out there died, one by one. BlueHippo got clipped, and pwroftheseagoat frenzied and got himself killed."

"Yeah," said Phantom. "He could never stand to see a fellow soldier die."

"Right," said Eagle. "Then X-Naut caught a glimpse of Carmilla and picked her off quickly. Then he saw another person come out and he died."

"Yeah, so?"

EagleRock stared at Phantom for a good few seconds before answering. "It was Slash."

"WHAT??"

"After he ran into the room, he wasn't shooting at the moderators. He was shooting at the ceiling. He ran right by them. He ran all the back to T-spawn. X-Naut saw this before he got shot. Slash ran right for a terrorist portal that was waiting for him. He--"

EagleRock stopped speaking, as if he lost his voice. Phantom's heart was in this throat.

Mess that morning was quiet for multiple reasons. Besides the fact that everyone was shocked at Slash's betrayal, there was now considerably less people eating there. When this fight started, there were twenty-six members of the Barracks, and now, thanks to yesterday, they were down to six. Sitting at a single table were Chief Barracks Officer EagleRock, Lieutenant Chief Barracks Officer Phantom, Relations Officer Sentio, Supreme Commander Coop83, Sergeant PossiblePancakes, and Police Captain Andrea364. EagleRock and Phantom had already filled in the users earlier on what happened yesterday. They all ate in relative silence, but conversation started to kick up again briefly.

"Um, sir," said Pancakes, "what's the plan for today?"

"The plan?" said EagleRock. "We fight."

Pancakes looked a bit surprised at this. "You still want to fight after all this? Aren't we just giving Wadolf what he wants?"

"Sure," said Eagle in repsonse, "but I'm also getting what I want. I want a chance at his head. I also want a chance at that traitor's head. Besides, I'd rather die on the battlefield than being murdered in my sleep or something."

Coop83 nodded. "The man's got a point. Really, what choice do we have? Even if they have all the cards stacked against us, any chance is better than no chance."

EagleRock continued. "Exactly my point. Also, I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sick of being down here. At least being shot at is a welcomed change to staring at gray walls 24 hours a day. And who knows? We might beat them just yet and get our asses out of here."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Phantom. "Besides, I didn't climb 20 flights of stairs with a dead leg for you fuckers to give up!"

"Healed. It may have affected me unlike the other gun wounds, but it healed all the same. I'm still quite tired, though."

"I can imagine," said Coop. "That bomb blast took so much out of me I couldn't believe it. I'm amazed that I got out of that alive...I couldn't feel pain, but I sure felt dizzy and delirious from all the damage I took."

"Yeah, you had some real potholes that night," commented Andrea364. "I've never seen you that banged up, sir. Thank God you made it!"

"Yeah, well," Phantom commented, "we might have some more difficult battles ahead of us. Wadolf doesn't seem too keen on giving us a fair fight." With that, the Barracks finished up their meal and congregated in the control room. It was almost time for the next match.

They were relaxing in the lounge as usual when the familiar crackling of the speakers came on and they were ready to hear Wadolf call the next match. But it wouldn't be his voice that they'd hear.

"Helllllo Newgrounds! This is SlashFirestorm, you newest Newgrounds moderator calling today's match! Today, your Newgrounds Administrator, Wade Fulp, will be taking part in today's activities down at cs_office, where he will be fighting Supreme Commander EagleRock!"

EagleRock thought for a second. "I'm willing to take that chance." He then started his way to the lockers. He quickly suited up and armed himself.

Andrea364 called out after him. "Sir, be careful. If Phantom is right, you don't have a chance. He'll just find some way to kill you."

EagleRock donned his bulletproof helmet as he replied, "If that happens, you all need to make sure I don't die in vain." He shouldered his AUG and entered his portal, which was ready and waiting.

Down at cs_office, EagleRock started started up the left route, heading through the main entrance up the stairs. As he reached the stairs, turning right down the center hallway. He stood there with his weaponry on his shoulder, awaiting Wadolf. Out from the doorway he would soon walk, conveniently dressed in full headgear to conceal his true identity. He stepped out into the hallway and stood in front of EagleRock.

"Well, well, well!" Wadolf took a deep gasp of awe. "The illustrious EagleRock!"

EagleRock stood there with a thoroughly unimpressed look on his face. "Pleasure, I'm sure."

"Oh, you're too serious...I thought you would being enjoying the experience to see your Barrack shine."

"Oh yes, sport. Though, i do admit, this is a sport better spectated than participated in. However, I must confess, I expected you guys to drop dead a lot faster than you have. So, I've decided to play along."

EagleRock took little time to respond. "Is this going anywhere, or are you just wasting my time?"

"Oh, no, I have a real reason to ask you out here. You see, a person like yours truly needs to surround himself with capable people."

"I'd imagine so. If you treat them like your moderators, you run through them pretty quickly."

Wadolf laughed. "I like your sense of humor. I only hope you consider my offer."

"What offer?"

"Well, I'm asking you to consider your surrender."

"Surrender? Why the hell would I?"

"Well, like I said, I'm going to need capable people by my side to do my work for me."

EagleRock paused. "So basically you're offering us the ability to be your slave in exchange for not fighting."

Wadolf continued, "Oh no, there'd be benefits of course, besides not dying down here, anyway. We're talking full moderatorship, with additional powers to blam and protect Portal entrants at will. Complete control over Newgrounds as you see fit."

EagleRock snorted. "I guess this is part of your master plan."

"Of course! You agree with me that most around here have no clue what's best for them."

"That might be true, but it's still their right."

"Oh, you and your rights. Ugh! Such a buzzkill you are."

"Are we done here?"

"I certainly hope not for your sake. If you don't accept my offer, we fight."

EagleRock paused again. "We fight."

"Pity. Oh well, means nothing to me. I win either way, you see. Either I get myself a new patrol of capable cannon fodder, or you become my day's entertainment."

Eagle's patience was visibly tested. "Can we move this along?"

Wadolf smiled. "Oh, I'd keep my head clear if I were you, Mister Chief Officer! I want this match to last a least a minute or two." EagleRock turned to briskly walk back to CT spawn as Wadolf did the same.

SlashFirestorm came on the mic again. "Well, it looks as though Wade and EagleRock are done speaking! I will call the match once they are back at their bases and at the ready!"

EagleRock stepped back into the garage near the entrance of the office building, where he loaded his weapons and prepared himself.

Once SlashFirestorm yelled "Commence!" Eagle immediately started a mad dash towards the main entrance a second time, flashbang in hand. As he did many times before on this map, he threw the flashbang into the large window to the left of the entrance and rushed towards the staircase. As he rounded the stairs, the flashbang went off, easily blinding anyone in the central hallway, as well as the side hallway that spit out from the top of the staircase.

EagleRock dashed to the top of the stairs, nothing no one in the side hallway. He immediately cut right into the central hallway, starting to spray his AUG into the room. Nobody there. Knowing he gave away his position, he immediately retreated back and into the side hallway, ducking down behind a fallen soda machine. He took time to reload his weapon.

Once he was reloaded, he jumped up and dashed into a small hallway that paralleled the central hallway. He was heading towards the back hallway that would bring him into the hostage room from behind. However, out from the back hallway he was flashbanged. He immediately about-faced to come in from the front, instead.

This match seemed like a larger-than-life chess match, all about positioning, timing, and tempo. EagleRock hadn't seen Wadolf yet during the fight, but he knew he was good. His positioning was just too good, to quickly. He knew he'd have to out-sneak him if he was going to win.

Just before Eagle rounded the way back into the central hallway and into the front door of the hostage room, he took his smoke grenade and lobbed it hard down the long hallway that he came down. The grenade landed conveniently in front of the entrance to the back hall. He then dashed into the front entrance of the room.

Sure enough, Wadolf was there, waiting, AK47 in hand. He squeezed a few shots off at EagleRock, but none hit him. Eagle's AUG had hit Wadolf about three times, but all in the leg. Wadolf ducked back into the side of the room quick speed and precision, as Eagle ducked into the supplies room to his right.

"Damn, he is good," he said to himself, as he readied his last grenade, his HE Grenade. He pulled the pin and lobbed it at the wall outside the supplies room. The grenade banked of the wall and shot back to Wadolf's location. It was now or never. EagleRock rushed out of the supplies room and jumped around the bend, matrix-style, ready to shoot at Wade.

EagleRock had timed his jump just right, as he managed to see his HE grenade detonate right at the feet of Wadolf. As if he was in matrix-time, he was able to carefully train the sights of his AUG at Wadolf's head as he flew through the air. Wadolf was visibly stunned, and had no chance of dodging. "This is it!" EagleRock thought as he squeezed his trigger.

Click.

EagleRock fell to the floor on his side, thumping against the office carpet below. It was the same deafening click that Phantom had heard when the guns were magically disabled. Eagle hadn't noticed the siren go off after he lobbed the grenade.

"The hostages were not rescued in time! Terrorists win!" It had been less than a minute.

EagleRock, getting up off the floor, angrily kicked the wall next to him, leaving a large hole in it. "GOD DAMMIT!!" he yelled as he threw his AUG on the ground.

EagleRock got up into Wadolf's face and stared him eye-to-eye. "Mark my words, you no good son of a bitch, I will kill you and end your fucked-up existence." Eagle turned, picked up his AUG, and started to head back towards his spawn.

Wadolf, with Eagle's back to him, shot his AK47 at him and hit him twice in the chest. The echoes of the gunshots bounced across the walls as Eagle doubled over heavily and fell to the ground. He was coughing blood. Wadolf walked up to him and kicked him in the head. "Do not insult me again," he plainly stated as he walked into his own nearby portal.

EagleRock's trip back was much easier than Phantom's was yesterday, but it was still hard. His chest gave him pause with every step he took. The fact he was coughing up blood didn't help, either. He ambled down the back stairs and slowly came upon his portal. He returned instantly as usually, and crept out of the chamber with difficulty. He had already stored his equipment in his locker by the time his fellow members came around.

"Sir, sir, are you all right?" said Sentio. EagleRock just continued to clamber back out into the hallway and towards his room. "Sir, let me help you, please!" EagleRock just pushed his way through, entered his room, and shut the door.

Phantom was watching nearby. "That went well, huh?"

-----

EagleRock had kept to himself that night, only to briefly show face in the mess for dinner, until he retreated again to his room. He looked quite injured and looked as though it was difficult for him to function. Later that night, the members were in the lounge, discussing what happened.

"I've seen him take a lot worse," said Coop83. "But he's been really hard on himself since we got stuck down here. He's shouldering all of this on himself."

"Yeah, but those bullets that Wadolf use are serious business," said Phantom. "Remember how long it took me to get healed from those? They sting bad."

"I wish he wouldn't risk his life all the time like this," said Sentio. "He doesn't seem to get the concept that he's really the only one out of us down here that can get us out of this."

"You're implying I couldn't run this place?" said Phantom.

"No," replied Sentio, "I'm implying that Eagle is the only one around here that has the experience and strategy to fight in these matches."

"Well, I can help you with that," said Pancakes. "I'm quite familiar with these maps and know them well."

"We'll keep that in mind, Sergeant," said Phantom. "It might come in handy."

"That's still a scary thought," said Sentio. "I mean, we're all capable and all, but can you imagine if he were to die?"

"It'd be rough, no doubt." Andrea shook her head.

Phantom stood up. "Well, I think we've talked about this enough. It's 2300 hours soldiers, time to hit the sack. No sense having the rest of the Barracks fatigued, too. We need to be ready to fight." All of the soldiers silently retreated to their rooms and slept the night.

By the morning, EagleRock looked better, but was obviously still hampered by Wadolf's gun wounds. While those wounds healed like all the rest, it took longer to do so and was more of a drain on the body.

"You look better, sir," said Sentio.

"Thanks," said Eagle. "Don't feel like it, though. It's still hard to maneuver."

"Well," said Phantom, "maybe you should sit this next one out."

"For once that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I'd be crippled if I have to fight out there. How long did it take for you to feel better?"

"I got about 16 hours of sleep before I shook it off."

"Shit," said Eagle. "This isn't gonna be fun."

The speaker started to crackle on. Wadolf boomed into his microphone. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOO, Newgrounds!!"

Wadolf continued, "Today is a special day for our Newgrounds Battle Royale! Your Newgrounds Moderators are currently ahead 6 matches to 4, and there are six players left on each team! Today's match will include all players left in the match, including me! We'll have a six on six skirmish on the roomy cs_militia map!"

"Fuck," said Sentio. "We all have to fight then. But at least I'll finally have a crack at these assholes."

"He knew what he was doing when he shot you, sir," quipped Pancakes.

EagleRock dismissed it. "Let's go." All of the soldiers went off to the lockers to get their equipment. Andrea364 lagged behind slightly.

-----

While she was no stranger to blamming and protecting in the Portal, it was quite different than taking a human life. Entrants on the Portal were mere creations of art meandering through the streets trying to make it into Newgrounds. Sure, blamming something could very well be crippling to someone's potential career, but it wasn't like killing the person. She had never used blamunition against another person, and didn't like the idea of it.

-----

Once Andrea and the rest were fully armed, they all stepped into their respective portals. Once in the map, EagleRock started with the strategy.

"Okay. Best way to tackle this is to have some people camp spawn, as they can also camp the back entrance to Bombsite B. Phantom, since you love camping, I want you on this. Andrea and Sentio, help him cover.

"Right," said Phantom.

"The rest of you are going to rush the front entrance to B with me. We'll cut off both pathways at the entrance to the garage and hold them off, got it?"

"Got it," said PossiblePancakes.

"I'm with you," said Coop83. "Will I have the ability to snipe?"

"Yeah. Assuming we get set up properly, we can get you in the back of the area and have you pick them off easily."

"Great. Let's do it." Coop83 loaded up his AWP as did the rest of the team. Sentio readied his MP5 and started searching for good camping points. Andrea364 took hold of her own AUG, checking the sights and getting a feel of it. She knew she could handle the weapon, but didn't know if she could handle her own nerves.

Wadolf screamed into his mic again, booming across the map. "We're getting started here, folks! I'll be calling the match from down here! Commence!"

"Get camping!" yelled Phantom as he took to using Coop's previous camping point right below the ladder going up to the ventilation system. Sentio took to crouching on some pipes that gave him a good view of both hallways stemming out of the spawn site, while Andrea364 hid behind the corner, facing the back hallway.

EagleRock lead Pancakes and Coop83 down the hallway leading to the front entrance to both bombsites, but was running visibly slower than normal. Still, they ran at quite a clip to the garage entrance, hoping to stop them before they can get through.

As they rounded the last bend of the tunnel, they were almost upon the outside area before the garage entrance. They started charging down, only to have poxpower jump out from around the bend with an UMP and start shooting. Immediately the three Elite Guards jumped back as Pancakes tossed a flashing out of the tunnel and threw it outside.

"FLASHBANG!" he yelled to his teammates as it went off, blinding poxpower in the process. EagleRock and Pancakes ducked back around the corner, as Coop83 took up a sniping point crouched around the corner. He took a shot at poxpower, hitting him in the leg. As poxpower ducked back around the corner, another terrorist threw a flashing around the corner, forcing Coop to need to shield his eyes.

"Shit!" yelled Eagle into his mic. "They got the drop on us! We can't stop them from proceeding to B! Phantom, I need you in the vents, now! Cut left inside the vents and camp the bombsite!"

"Roger," replied Phantom. "You two stay here. I'm on my way, Eagle."

"Good," Eagle replied. "I want to camp this one up as much as possible. Less firefight we have to deal with, the better. Let's run out the clock if we can. Just make sure to keep them from planting that bomb!" Eagle then turned to Phantom. "Let's rush up there and try to get cover of the door. We might be able to stop them. Coop, cover us!"

Eagle tossed a flashbang into the opening and started rushing up with PossiblePancakes.

At the same time, another flashbang went off at the spawn site. Coop and Andrea had company, too.

EagleRock and PossiblePancakes rushed around the corner to find poxpower and Ramagi out in the open and took to firing them. Ramagi ducked right back into the garage while poxpower tried to push towards the doorway to Bombsite B. It wouldn't take long for EagleRock's AUG and Pancakes' FAMAS to take him down.

Andrea364 and Sentio started rushing out from their campsite towards the hallway that took the terrorists to Bombsite B. The flashbang they received would soon be followed with whoever threw it, so Sentio called out to Andrea to cover him as he rushed in. She ran right behind him at they were ready to bend right around the large spools of wire that open.

As they rounded the bend, she saw Dobio at the end of the hallway with a Scout trained on Sentio. She froze up. Dobio took aim and headshotted Sentio in one quiet, skull-crushing shot. Shock filled Andrea's body as she screamed out. She fell back behind the spools of wire, falling on her back. Fear coated her body as she scrambled to pick up her dropped AUG and take cover. She felt another shot go by as Dobio took another shot with his Scout. She was pinned.

Meanwhile, EagleRock and PossiblePancakes had the terrorists pinned down at the garage just as he planned. Coop83 managed to grab the high ground around the small bunker, behind which lied the door to Bombsite B. He had clear view of the entire garage door and anyone that dared enter. Pancakes was holed up in a nook to the right of the door, while EagleRock was crouched behind him.

"Front entrance is covered for now," EagleRock radioed in. "Nothing but a few flashbangs and some cover fire over here. Phantom, did anyone get through?"

"It's quiet in Bombsite B. We're good over here. Time's just ticking."

"Andrea, are you there?" Phantom chimed in. "Shit! I better get over there."

Andrea364 stayed behind the wire spool as she heard people creeping up the hallway. She grabbed a flashbang off her belt and tossed it over the spools. The bang shut up some of the fire as she took to blindly shooting around the wire spool. She quickly ducked out to see if she hit anyone, but saw Wadolf backing up from her gunfire as she quickly squeezed off a few more shots. She ducked back as she reloaded her AUG and readied another flashbang.

"Any progress, anyone?" EagleRock radioed in. They were still holed up at the garage entrance, holding off the terrorists that were there. "COME IN, DAMMIT!"

"I can't find my away around this fucking building!" cried Phantom. He was trying to get out of the building to assist Andrea, but couldn't find his away around. He kept going around in circles, unable to find a way out.

Andrea was still taking fire in the hallway, still trying to stave off their advance. They apparently were overestimating her abilities, as they were scared to make the rush down the hallway. She grabbed her frag grenade and blindly lobbed it down the hallway, as she ducked out from around the spool to take aim. She saw the grenade hit Wadolf as he ducked back around the corner, as Dobio came out and squeezed off a shot at her. She shot hit her in the leg, causing her to lose balance slightly. However, as Dobio was reloading, she squeezed the trigger, headshotting him with her AUG.

Again, shock filled her body as she watched, Dobio fall to the ground, lifeless. She lowered her weapon, unable to take her eyes off the body laying at the end of the hallway. She again retreated to behind the spools at the near side of the hallway, cowering in fear.

EagleRock grew restless rather quickly after not hearing any radio responses for nearly a minute. He didn't know where the bomber was or when the terrorists would try to advance. He finally decided to make a move himself. He got up and proceeded rush into the garage. As he ran around the corner into the short hallway there, he was greeted by Ramagi and SlashFirestorm. Shots were quickly returned as a few got him in the leg, as he squeezed off a few himself. Unfortunately, the skirmish ended with the loud siren silenced the gunfire. He stopped, having nothing to do but stare at Ramagi and Slash.

Wadolf announced the end of the match through the speakers littered around the map. "Well well! Looks like the Elite Guards held us up! We ran out of time, and the counter-terrorists win! They've caught up a point against us, making it 6-5 terrorists! Tune into tomorrow for our next match!"

EagleRock stared down SlashFirestorm. The stare he gave had a rage that Eagle rarely gave out to others. Slash couldn't stand to look at Eagle as he turned around and walked into the security door behind him.

Phantom finally found his way out of the building that contained Bombsite B and came out to the hallway where he found Andrea ducked behind the spool. "Wow, you really held them off, huh?" he said to her as he gave her a hand to get up. She didn't respond as she started walking back to the portals. Eagle, Pancakes, and Coop returned down the other hallway soon after and transported back to the base as well.

Andrea364 didn't speak as she put away her AUG. She was afraid of it. She had killed two people today. Not only did she see Dobio die by her own hand, but she wasn't there to protect Sentio from the gunfire. She felt like a failure, and wish she had died out there.

EagleRock was upset. "I came SO FUCKING CLOSE to getting that sonofabitch. I would've given anything for 2 more seconds." His legs were bleeding pretty badly.

"You know," said Pancakes, "that was a suicide run you did, Eagle. You can't keep doing this."

"Excuse me, Sergeant? I think I know when I had enough." He slammed his locker door loudly as he stepped into the lounge.

"Damn," said Pancakes as he stored his own equipment. He saw Andrea sitting on a bench by herself. "Hey, you all right?"

She looked up at Pancakes with sad eyes. "No. I--I killed him."

"Killed who?"

"Sentio. I froze up--I couldn't back him up. He died because of me. He DIED while I stood there."

"Damn," Pancakes whispered to himself as she started crying on the bench. "Look, Andrea, I wouldn't be so hard on yourself…it happens out there. Point is you stopped them from advancing and we won because they couldn't get past you."

She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Yeah, but I still could've saved him. And I killed Dobio, too! I've never killed a man before."

"Yeah, but you're able to protect the portal day and night. It's not like you've never fired a gun before."

"Still. It's not the same. I know it's not the same. I…I'm not cut out for this."

"Well, maybe I'm not the right person to talk to. I mean, the person to talk to is the Relations…" He cut off quickly as he realized what he just said. Andrea started crying again. "Look, just calm down about it, and talk to EagleRock. He always knows what to say in a time like this. Trust me."

She eventually agreed and cleaned herself up. She made her way back into the lounge with everyone else.

Later that night, everyone was filing into their bunks to rest for the night, but EagleRock was still in the lounge, laying down on a couch, keeping off his feet, trying to take it easy. Andrea came up to him. He had his eyes closed, so she cleared her throat to announce herself. "Um, sir?"

He opened his eyes and turned to Andrea. "What's up, Andrea?"

"Sir, I need to talk to you about something."

"Look, I know what you're going to say. And you're wrong. It's not your fault."

"But sir, you don't know--"

"Let me guess, you hesitated and watched him die, right?"

"How did you--"

"You really think you're the first person to do that?"

"But--"

"Let me ask you something. Did you personally shoot him?"

"Well, no, but--"

"Did you try your hardest, even though you flinched?"

"Yeah, but--"

"Andrea, stop trying to interrupt me."

She looked down to the ground. "Sorry, sir."

"Look," EagleRock said as sat up on the cough with a groan, "I know how you feel. This is the first combat you've been in. Until now it was all Portal entrants. Not real humans. I get it. But you need to realize that what happens in battle is not your fault. You didn't cause this to happen. It wasn't your decision to be here. It was Wadolf's. Blame him for Sentio's death, not you."

"I still feel like I could've done more. I know it scared me and all, but I still feel responsible. I mean, I can't even trust myself, now."

"Look," continued Eagle, "everyone handles death differently. I mean, it was your first time really seeing a skirmish like this. It's hard on a person. But you need to realize the potential inside of you to be a great commissioned officer at some point. Hell, maybe even a Supreme Commander."

"You really think that? I can't see it."

"You need to believe in yourself again, that's all. By the way, I think your performance today was great. Actually, I think it's time for you to be back in the Elite Guard. I can't promote you back to a Corporal right away, but I sure can give you Private First Class rank. Singlehandedly stopping three of those moderators and keeping them away from the bombsite isn't exactly a small feat, you know."

Andrea looked down again. "Thanks, sir. But I--I'm still not sure I'm cut out for this."

"Take it from me. Give yourself one more chance out there, and you'll see what potential you really have. Not everyone makes it to the Elite Guard…remember that."

Andrea just nodded as she excused EagleRock and went to bed. She wouldn't sleep well that night.